Interview with Naomi Morris on her creative-critical PhD, professional journey at OLH

In this interview, we speak with Naomi Morris, Editorial Officer at the Open Library of Humanities, about her creative-critical PhD, professional journey, and the rewarding challenges of working in open-access publishing.

Can you tell us a bit about your academic and professional background? What is your PhD about?

My PhD is a creative-critical PhD, which means it includes both a creative project and a critical component. The challenge is that both parts have to respond to the same research question, they’re in constant dialogue with each other.

In the critical part, I focus on memoirs about illness, particularly chronic illness, and explore the forms these memoirs take. It's a rich and complex area, often referred to as “illness writing.” I'm interested in how we write about illness, and which literary forms best capture those experiences.

My first chapter was on breast cancer memoirs, which tends to have quite a clear structure in terms of it being a journey of diagnosis and then a journey towards health. I’ve found that this form stands out compared to other types of illness I’ve been exploring.

This form is quite distinct from other forms of illness such as for instance chronic illnesses, which I explored in my second chapter through the lens of chronic fatigue syndrome, which is similar in some ways to long COVID.

Chronic illnesses often lack a clear resolution, and that deeply affects the way people write about them. I was diagnosed with CFS at 13, and while I don’t strongly relate to the diagnosis now because it's quite an umbrella diagnosis, it had a significant impact on my schooling and adolescence. That experience informs both the critical and creative parts of my PhD. The creative component is shaping into a book of personal essays about illness, memory, and care.

Ultimately, I’m interested in how writing can illuminate the lived experience of illness, and how it might help move us toward more compassionate, inclusive systems of care for people living with illnesses and disability.

What about your professional background? Was it connected to your current role at OLH?

Before starting my PhD, I worked in bookshops and cafés as a student, so not directly related, though I’ve always loved books and words.

Later, I worked for a now-closed children’s literature agency that published books and ran writing and illustration workshops. One of its key initiatives supported underrepresented illustrators in children's literature, which remains a very homogeneous group. I coordinated that project and that gave me a lot of hands-on experience with admin, spreadsheets, and switching between multiple projects, all of which translates well into my work at OLH.

The role was also really varied, sometimes we worked with partners like the Southbank Centre or the Arts Council and even though it was a small team, there was always a lot going on. 

What motivated you to pursue a role in scholarly publishing, and specifically with OLH?

The ethos of the Open Library of Humanities aligns with my own values. When I was applying for my PhD, I struggled to access research articles because so much academic work is behind paywalls. Unless you’re affiliated with an institution, it’s often inaccessible, which is incredibly exclusionary.

I care deeply about making academic, peer-reviewed work available to everyone. I also did a placement at OLH before taking on this role, so I already knew I liked the working environment and the people. That made the decision easy.

Were you familiar with open access and open science before joining OLH?

Only a little bit. I didn’t really know much about it at the time. Sometimes I’d search for an article and be able to read it, and other times I couldn’t. It just seemed quite random. I now understand that it often comes down to whether something is open access. There are platforms and publishers that do make their content freely available, which I wasn’t fully aware of before.

It’s been encouraging to discover that there’s not just an open access “industry,” but actually a much larger community than I realised with people actively working towards making more research openly accessible.

Could you describe your role as Editorial Officer? What does a typical day look like?

I help manage the day-to-day operations of the Open Library of Humanities journal, as well as support our network of hosted journals.

My tasks include communicating with authors and editors, keeping projects on schedule, using Janeway (our publishing platform) to track editorial workflows, occasionally copyediting articles, and checking journal websites for clarity, consistency, and accuracy.

I also support Rose and Simon, our other team members, with whatever is needed to keep everything running smoothly.

How do your academic and professional experiences inform the work you do at OLH?

Having an academic background gives me insight into what it's like on the other side of the publishing process. So for instance, when I’m chasing people about deadlines, I get that academics, students often have a heavy workload.

And also, I just genuinely care about academia, I wouldn’t have started a PhD if I didn’t. I think it helps to have that perspective: to know what it’s like from the other side. Education and knowledge really matter to me, and I think that makes it easier to do the work because I care about it.

What excites you most about your work at OLH, and what would you like to learn or improve?

That’s a good question. I really enjoy seeing a journal article develop from the early idea stage, like a special collection proposal, all the way through to publication. It’s satisfying to help guide that process and see it come to life.

I’m also looking forward to seeing more journal “flips”, whether that’s existing journals flipping to open access, or new journals launching with OLH that leave their "zombie" journal behind. 

And more broadly, I’m excited to see the Open Library of Humanities continue to grow steadily. It’s great to see more journals showing interest in publishing with us, it feels like the platform is gaining recognition, and I’m glad to be a part of that.

What aspects of your role do you find most rewarding? And what are the most challenging?

Copyediting is one of my favourite parts of the job. I love reading articles that are completely outside my area of expertise as I’m always learning something new. I also enjoy the attention to detail and the sense of improvement that comes with every article I edit.

The more challenging side of the role, for me, is the technical side, particularly working with HTML. I’ve done a bit of it before, so it’s not completely unfamiliar, but it’s definitely an area I’m still growing in.

How do you think OLH is helping to shape the future of academic publishing?

OLH sets a powerful example. It shows that it’s entirely possible to host high-quality, peer-reviewed journals on an open-access platform without relying on large corporate publishers. Hopefully, that helps change some minds and encourages more people to get on board with open access.

Finally, what advice would you give to early-career researchers who are looking to publish?

Read the author guidelines carefully. Really take the time to understand what the journal publishes, and whether your work fits.

We sometimes receive unsolicited submissions from people who’ve just seen that a journal is open for submissions, without checking if their work is a good fit. That approach rarely works.