Publishing peer-reviewed products of community-engaged scholarship

The results of community-based participatory research and other forms of community-engaged scholarship (CES) are often disseminated through innovative products that reach and benefit community members, practitioners, policy makers and academics, such as educational videos, policy briefs, resource guides, toolkits and photovoice exhibits. CES also often leads to the development of tools that can assist others in implementing or adapting an intervention or project in their communities, such as assessment instruments, instructional manuals and partnership agreements. However, since these products are not typically peer-reviewed and published the way journal articles are, promotion and tenure committees are unable to determine their quality or impact and often discount them. Further, they are not routinely disseminated beyond the communities with which the work was conducted. Faculty members and their community partners need new venues for peer-reviewed dissemination of their work.

Community-engaged scholars should consider the range of products that could come out of CES – from conventional manuscripts to the sorts of products cited above. There are an increasing number of peer-reviewed journals for publishing CES. CES4Health.info, launched in November 2009 is a unique online mechanism for peer-reviewed publication and dissemination of products of CES in forms other than manuscripts. The products published through CES4Health.info -- including a film about health impacts of the built environment in post-Katrina New Orleans, a cultural competency curriculum for health professionals, and a toolkit to promote walking in rural communities, and a video on conducting community-based participatory research in Aboriginal communities - reflect the depth and breadth of knowledge made possible through CES. The rigorous peer review process used by CES4Health.info helps to ensure the publication of high quality products that can "count" toward faculty promotion and tenure and be used or adapted in other communities working on similar issues. Faculty members who author products that are published through CES4Health.info can note them in the peer-reviewed publications section of their curriculum vitae and describe them as peer-reviewed scholarly products. CES4Health.info also provides authors with a measure of impact by tracking how often each product is accessed and how it is used.