The Outstanding Publication Award

This award is presented on a bi-annual basis.  The purpose of this award is to bestow recognition on a colleague or colleagues for a specific publication (book, book chapter, or journal article) judged as making a substantial contribution to the literature and/or practice of graduate education.  Publications may have more than one author. A substantial contribution is defined as scholarship that extensively revises our knowledge and understanding of a particular problem in the study of graduation education or looks at it in a new way. It may also be an interdisciplinary effort that identifies a problem new to the community of scholars in higher education.

Selection Criteria

The Outstanding Publication Award is presented to the individual or individuals who meet the following criteria as approved by the SIG and Council:

Each submission will be rated (scored) on a scale of 1 – 5 against each of the five criteria below

Significance: The issues presented are not obvious and trivial, but interesting, creditable and natural and not chosen because they easy to deal with.

Clarity: Clearly written, content accessible and engaging for a non-specialist audience.

Quality: Scientific and methodological soundness of the paper and inclusion of details that allow checking the accuracy of the reflections, results and citations.

Originality: Not necessarily the generation of new knowledge, although that would be novel, but rather the uniqueness of the combination of the issues, techniques and methods in their application to a certain domain.

Presentation: Well-structured with a coherent and consistent methodological order that ensures intelligibility of what is being said and a logical conclusion.

 Application Process

The process for determining the individual or individuals deserving of the Outstanding Publication Award is as follows:

1. The publication must have been published within the previous two years.  Articles and books published between October 1, 2012 and September 30, 2014 will be considered for the 2015 award.
2. Submissions must be made to the chair of the Outstanding Publication Award committee. Papers and chapters must be submitted electronically in Microsoft Word or PDF format. 
3. In any one year authors may submit no more than two of their single- or co-authored papers. 
4. Nominations must be received by 5 pm US Eastern Time by December 15.  Please submit nominations to Meghan Pifer, Outstanding Publication Award Committee Chair, via email at [email protected].
5. Self-nominations are acceptable.
6. Each submission must comprise:

a. The paper to be considered:
- For journal articles, one copy clearly indicating the journal in which it was published; issue number and date.
- For chapters, one copy clearly indicating the title of the volume in which it was published; book editors; publishers; place of paper; ISBN number; date of publication
b. Nominator: Name and contact information for person submitting the nomination. 
c. Complete citation of the author(s) and paper nominated
d. Name and contact information of the first author
e. A statement about what, in your opinion, makes this paper outstanding. The contribution that this paper has made or you anticipate that it will make to the literature in the field of graduate education; its theoretical significance; the contribution this paper has made to improving practice or to understanding practice.

The winner will be notified on March 1. 
The winner will be invited to present his or her work at the AERA Annual Meeting.
The annual winner will be formally announced at the 2015 SIG 168 Annual Business meeting.
The recipient of the AERA SIG 168 Outstanding Publication Award is strongly encouraged to attend the annual meeting so that s/he may receive the award and present their paper to the SIG 168 members.

2013 Award Recipients

The 2013 Outstanding Publication Award went to David Feldon and colleagues for their article published in the journal Science, which has a readership of over 1 million people.  The complete citation for the article is below.  Many congratulations to all of the authors for their fine contribution to the literature.

Feldon, D. F., Peugh, J., Timmerman, B., Maher, M., Hurst, M., Strickland, D., Gilmore, J., & Stiegelmeyer, C. (2011). Graduate students’ teaching experiences improve their methodological research skills, Science, 333(6045), 1037-1039.


David Feldon (center) with incoming SIG Chair Karri Holley (left) and incoming Secretary/Treasurer Margaret Sallee (right)

2011 Award Recipients

Maura Borrego (Virginia Tech) and Lynita K. Newswander (University of South Dakota)
Borrego, M., & Newswander, L. K. (2010). Definitions of interdisciplinary research: Toward graduate-level interdisciplinary learning outcomes. Review of Higher Education, 34(1), 61-84. DOI: 10.1353/rhe.2010.0006