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Article published In:
Journal of English for Research Publication Purposes
Vol. 4:1 (2023) ► pp.5–28

“Most good papers are published in English”

Japanese academics’ perspectives on the benefits and drawbacks of writing and publishing in English

ORCID logo | Independent Scholar
| Kyoto University
Internationally, most prestigious and influential academic journals are published in English, and therefore a mastery of the language is necessary to ensure engagement with the international scientific community. There is debate in the literature as to whether the dominance of English might lead to the marginalization of contributions from academics for whom English is a second language. The present study explores through interviews the insights of 11 humanities and social sciences academics working at two Japanese universities ranked in the top 50 globally. The findings indicate that most of the participants view English as the logical vehicle for reaching a wider audience for their research. Despite an acknowledgement that publishing in English presents problems from both linguistic and pragmatic perspectives, these academics do not, on the whole, believe that current standards need to be revisited. These issues are discussed in light of the changing realities of academic environments, and the need to ensure accessible pathways for those who can and should be contributing to knowledge construction in the global academy.
Keywords: academic writing in English, academic publishing, English for research publication purposes, Japanese academics, English as an academic lingua franca, academics who use English as a second language
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Literature review
    • 1.2The present study
  • 2.Method
    • 2.1Participants
    • 2.2Procedure
    • 2.3Data coding and analysis
  • 3.Results
    • 3.1Academic English, as it is currently used, serves the global academic community well
    • 3.2Writing and publishing in English demands high resource costs
      • 3.2.1Sources, costs, and quality of proofreading assistance
      • 3.2.2Senior academics felt obliged to help their postgraduate students with their English
    • 3.3The difficulties L2 authors face in having their research accepted by leading English-medium journals deserve attention and greater scrutiny
  • 4.Discussion
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
Published online: 20 July 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jerpp.22009.str
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