Date: Sunday, October 19, 2025
Hello! We are Alysson Akiko Oakley, Vice President of Learning, Evidence and Impact at Pact in Washington, DC, and Caitlin Blaser Mapitsa, Associate Professor at Wits School of Governance based in South Africa. Together, we are the co-editors of the International Advances in Evaluation section of the American Journal of Evaluation. The newest issue is out, and our section introduction is free to access! In it we address changes to the international evaluation landscape and our hopes for our profession.
Today we are here to encourage you to share your knowledge and experience by publishing in our section of AJE, and to learn from your peers working in international evaluation. This week’s blogposts share some reasons why we hope you will think about publishing, tips for publishing in the international section of AJE, reflections on the experience of authors from editing a special issue of the African Evaluation Journal, and the changing landscape of international evaluation.
When people think about publishing in a journal, they often picture academics crunching data and citing theories. But the International Advances in Evaluation section of the American Journal of Evaluation is different. It was created with you—the practitioner, consultant, program manager, VOPE member, and academic—in mind.
This section is about real stories from real contexts, which can contribute meaningfully to the broader evaluation field. It’s about how you adapted a method when plans went sideways, how you worked with communities to make evaluation meaningful, how you found ways to measure change in settings that don’t fit the textbook examples, or how you have been affected by larger evaluation political forces. These are the kinds of experiences that shape the field, and they deserve to be shared.
Why publish if you’re not an academic? Because your work already creates impact, through the programmatic decisions it shapes. Writing about it extends that impact to a broader community, letting others across countries, sectors, and disciplines learn from your journey. The peer review process helps build rigor in your writing, so you have a final piece that can add legitimacy to your work. The section especially welcomes voices that are underrepresented in scholarship: practitioners, early-career evaluators, and colleagues from historically marginalized communities. You don’t need perfect prose or piles of statistics. Reflections, lessons learned, and practice notes are also valued.
Why read this section? Even if you don’t work internationally, the perspectives here will spark ideas for your own practice. Evaluations in diverse contexts are often the birthplace of innovation: new methods to capture complexity, fresh ways of engaging stakeholders, and practical strategies for navigating inequality and logistical challenges. Reading these articles broadens your toolkit and challenges you to think differently about your own work, whether you’re evaluating a community nonprofit in the U.S. or a large-scale development program abroad.
Publishing here amplifies your voice. Reading here expands your perspective. Together, both make evaluation stronger. This week’s AEA365 takeover shares three recent articles form this section, shares some tips on how to publish in AJE, and broadens the discussion to global evaluation initiatives.
Curious? Reach out to us! Caitlin Blaser Mapitsa (Caitlin.Mapitsa@wits.ac.za) or Alysson Akiko Oakley (aoakley@pactworld.org).
The American Evaluation Association is hosting the American Journal of Evaluation (AJE). All posts this week are contributed by evaluators who work for AJE. Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this AEA365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on theAEA365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an AEA365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to AEA365@eval.org . AEA365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators. The views and opinions expressed on the AEA365 blog are solely those of the original authors and other contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of the American Evaluation Association, and/or any/all contributors to this site.