Opening lines of communication : demanding access to quality avenues for research dissemination

In Australia, discussions and deliberations around the (recently abandoned) Australian Research Quality Framework exercise (widely known as 'the RQF'), together with the even more recently completed call for input into the proposed research journal rankings for the replacement Excellence in Research for Australia initiative ('ERA'), have cast a more than usually searching light onto avenues for the dissemination of scholarly research. When considered in conjunction with such qualitative measuring in the UK and New Zealand, peer-reviewed publishing - academic books and book chapters, and refereed journal articles and conference papers in particular - have recently become the topic of an unprecedented degree of scrutiny. Exploring the processes of peer reviewed scholarly publication, and the access that readers and writers have to such publication in Australia, this article suggests that academic writers and readers need to be more conscious about all stages of the publication process.