Publishing Aviation Research: A Literature Review of Scholarly Journals

The importance of the aviation industry\u27s socio-economic impact, domestically and globally, cannot be denied. In light of this and, as aviation continues to evolve as an academic field of study, post-secondary institutions with aviation specific curriculum have grown,in number and prominence. As a direct consequence of academic growth, the necessity to publish follows as a concomitant requirement. Through the diligence of those researchers actively conducting aviation related research a common theoretical and conceptual base for aviation specific research has been established. The void that once existed for aviation research has been filled, predominantly by three aviation specific journals and a number of other journals of prominence that accept aviation research for publication. In a 1995 article entitled Publishing Aviation Research: An Interdisciplinary Review of Scholarly Journals, Truitt and Kaps, using a specialized computer research criterion, and key informant interviews identified a list of 21 aviation specific and related publication outlets available for publishing. This research procedure and methodology received additional validity when the University Aviation Association codified the findings into a UAA publication entitled, Director of Scholarly Journals Which Publish Non-Engineering Aviation Research. Replication of that study and by expanding the field of search mechanisms, the authors set out to determine the present field for aviation publications, both scholarly and non-scholarly. Twenty-nine academically peer reviewed journals are included in this update. The results validate the previous study, and identify and define, through tabular exhibits, contact points, addresses and email and/or web site locations of previously sited locations and those emerging subsequent to the UAA listing. In addition, this current effort adds new perspectives on the reasons for publishing and who might be encouraged to publish in what type of journal