The benefits of developing learning communities or communities of practice to optimize the learning experiences of education professionals has been well documented in the recent research literature. Less consideration has been made for the development of academic scholars. This essay considers an existing paradigm within the academy, the academic journal, as a vehicle for the orientation and socialization of new scholars into the social norms and mores of academic research and scholarship. The authors worked with doctoral fellows from their orientation to the scope of work involved with content development through issue publication in order to consider their growing awareness of academic culture.