Publishing as Pedagogy: Mapping Student Journals in the Netherlands | Student Repository

Student-run academic journals represent an important but underexplored dimension of scholarly communication, offering early-career scholars opportunities to engage with editorial processes, peer review, and academic publishing. While existing research has documented the pedagogical and professional benefits of student publishing in North American and UK contexts, the landscape of student-led journals in European higher education remains largely unmapped. This thesis addresses this gap by providing the first systematic examination of student-run publications in the Netherlands. Drawing on desk research, institutional outreach, and twenty-five qualitative interviews with student editors and faculty supervisors, this study maps the ecosystem of Dutch student journals and analyses how they operate, what purposes they serve, and what challenges they face. The research reveals a highly diverse landscape in which publications range from rigorously peer-reviewed academic journals to hybrid formats combining scholarly and creative content, to student magazines focused on community engagement. Despite this heterogeneity, common patterns emerge: nearly all journals operate on volunteer student labour with minimal institutional support, creating shared vulnerabilities around funding, continuity, and technical capacity. The findings demonstrate that Dutch student journals serve multiple overlapping purposes (pedagogical, social, platform-related, and professional) simultaneously, with participants gaining valuable skills in editing, peer review, and scholarly communication. However, journals face continuous challenges including financial uncertainty, knowledge loss through editorial turnover, recruitment difficulties, and limited institutional recognition. This thesis contributes to scholarship on student publishing by documenting a national ecosystem previously absent from academic literature and developing a typology that captures diverse publication models. The research concludes that while student publishing in the Netherlands thrives through student enthusiasm and commitment, its long-term sustainability requires greater institutional recognition and support.