This article shares experiences from editing an academic journal publishing media practice research, supervising and assessing doctoral media practice research and reviewing media practice research (including elements of my own work) against prescribed external standards for originality, significance and rigour. It offers a set of principles, drawn from the field, for doctoral practice researchers and supervisors, postdoctoral practice researchers thinking about how to present their research for external review and more experienced researchers thinking about practice as a way of moving beyond disciplinary constraints. The article makes suggestions with regard to a) how practice research can best be “signposted” as such; b) how the media practice research community are establishing criteria for this work we do that should be shared and used collegiately from this point, and c) how to talk about the tensions between media practice research as a political project and the desire for legitimation.