Journal of English for Research Publication Purposes - Volume 6, Issue 1, 2025

Abstract

Over the past three decades, a growing body of ethnographic case studies has sought to describe the teaching and learning of writing for research publication in STEM disciplines, combining interviews and observations of writing-focused supervision meetings with the collection of research article drafts into thick descriptions of the practices and challenges faced by doctoral students and their supervisor (sometimes called ‘advisor’ in North American settings). While these existing studies share a similar interest in student-supervisor co-authoring practices as a site for disciplinary apprenticeship and enculturation, they differ considerably in their disciplinary and geographic context, focal points of analysis and conclusions. Taking an interpretive approach to qualitative synthesis, the present review brings together twenty-one such ethnographic accounts in order to tease out shared findings as well as to critically explore differences between studies. To this end, the studies are articulated along two complementary dimensions: firstly, the studies trace how doctoral students in STEM disciplines struggle to adapt their existing reading and writing practices to the new purposes and audiences of a research article. Secondly, the studies portray varied facets of the evolving and often complex student-supervisor relationship, characterized by unfolding changes in the roles these participants assign to themselves and each other. In light of the described practices and challenges, the review then turns to the ongoing debate on whether situated learning to write for publication in STEM disciplines can be considered a writing pedagogy. Finally, some remaining gaps in our knowledge base are suggested as fertile ground for further ethnographic studies of doctoral writing in STEM disciplines.

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate how expert writers achieve textuality in 740 research articles (RAs) in Applied Linguistics. The study first examined the writers’ currently-used links between ideas across paragraphs in the introductory sections of 240 research articles. Then, in the second phase, 500 RAs over three decades were compiled to trace the emergent trends of global cohesion in RA introductions. Content analysis explored patterns of cohesive devices and the extent to which professional RA authors create textuality. Results of the first phase demonstrated that cohesion across paragraphs was achieved through both single and multi-unit constructions, along with explicit and implicit ties. Subsequent to Repetition as the single dominant explicit device, over 30 percent of cohesion was established through the use of phrasal patterns. Moreover, the study revealed an increase in the use of implicit devices over the three decades. While adapting and refining Halliday and Hasan’s (1976) cohesion framework, this study offers pedagogical implications for early-career academic writers and writing instructors.

Abstract

Self-reference plays an important role in academic writing since it reflects the identity of the authors and may also serve as an indicator of authorial presence. This study investigates the diachronic change in self-reference by conducting a quantitative analysis of 23 self-reference markers in a 10-million-word corpus comprising research articles published in Science from 1997 to 2021. The analysis also compares the diachronic change of self-reference in both abstracts and full texts. Our diachronic analysis reveals three salient trends: (1) divergent patterns between abstracts and full texts, with abstracts demonstrating higher authorial presence overtime; (2) a significant increase in first-person plural pronouns and determiners (we/our/us/ours), particularly prominent in abstracts; (3) a significant rise of third-person noun phrases (i.e., the author) and inanimate noun phrases (i.e., this study), particularly in full texts; does not read well. Such shifts in authorial presence may have evolved as a promotional discourse strategy. Finally, the findings of this study yield both empirical and pedagogical implications.

Abstract

The dominance of English as the uncontested language of international research publication has gained particular significance as a research concern. However, the sociopolitics of publishing in English by speakers of other languages, including the related national and institutional ideologies and policies in non-Anglophone contexts, remain under-investigated. In this study, we examined policies of academic writing for publication in Iranian higher education, specifically probing how these policies are received by university faculty members. Considering the official policies in this context, which underscore English as the favored language of publishing, we conducted semi-structured individual interviews (overall, around 80 hours) with 53 academics representing 46 universities from around the country (across two disciplinary categories of Social Sciences/Humanities and Basic Sciences/Engineering). The analysis of interviews through iterative qualitative coding revealed how the participants felt the pressure of policies for publishing in English as well as how most of them embraced, while a minority avoided or resisted, these policies. We discuss the implications of these orientations as well as similar trends that foster the dominance of English and its neoliberal associations around the non-Anglophone world.

Abstract

The purpose of editorial peer review is to maintain and improve academic journal quality while its execution depends on journal status and location in the global academic publishing system. Significant research on authors’ publishing experiences has been conducted in ERPP. However, empirical research on the perspectives of multilingual editors beyond the Anglophone center of scholarly publishing is an under-researched area. Therefore, to better understand editors’ challenges and roles and investigate pedagogical activity at journals in the “semi-periphery,” five English-medium national journals in Taiwan were investigated. Data from qualitative interviews with five editors were triangulated with journal and database data. A taxonomy of editor challenges and roles along journal development stages is presented. Results show that the type and intensity of editors’ challenges shift with publication development. Oversight entities imposing Anglophone center norms have standardized peer review practices enabling journal mobility. However, collisions between those mechanisms and journal conditions can frustrate editors and limit their ability to follow the standards, let alone execute explicit pedagogical activities. This study reveals the complicated terrain for editors beyond the Anglophone center and provides insights into the intersection of journal development and editor roles cultivated through movement along the global academic continuum toward mobility.

Abstract

In this conceptual article I aim to advance our understanding of digital genre networks in online science communication. Specifically, I develop genre theory by drawing on the meta-theory of complexity, which involves two highly influential interpretive frameworks, complexity theory and complex systems theory, and their related subfields, complex network theory and complex dynamic systems theory. I conceptualise digital genre networks as analogous to complex, dynamic systems, with their constituent genres acting as interconnected nodes that achieve specific social actions. I explain the theoretical and practical rationales behind this conceptual model and outline how to empirically demonstrate the structured heterogeneity and holistic behaviour of digital genre networks using several constructs from the meta-theory of complexity — non-linearity, adaptability, coevolution, self-organisation and dynamic interactions. The conceptual model also involves methodological developments, which I illustrate using case study research designs. Finally, I suggest some future directions for expanding the field of English for Research Publication Purposes and broader fields, and propose ways of training researchers who need or want to compose digital genre networks to increase the visibility and impact of their work.

This article reviews Linguistic Approaches in English for Academic Purposes: Expanding the DiscourseGBP 81.00GBP 26.09GBP 64.80978-1-3503-0030-9

This article reviews Publishing during Doctoral Candidature: Policies, Practices, and IdentitiesEUR 106.9997898199098729789819909889

This article reviews Narratives and Practices of Mentorship in Scholarly PublicationUS$ 31.999781003274131

This article reviews Women in Scholarly Publishing: A Gender Perspective£ 33.99£ 123.25£ 35.999781032045214