Cover not available
Article published In:
Language Problems and Language Planning
Vol. 47:3 (2023) ► pp.233–255

Global, glocal or local?

The construction of a new identity by peripheral social sciences and humanities journals through translation-mediated bilingual publishing

ORCID logo | Xi’an International Studies University
Local (peripheral) social sciences and humanities journals are underrepresented in major indexes due to linguistic, ideological, and disciplinary bias. To seek international visibility without sacrificing their local identity, they are adopting translation-mediated bilingual publishing to construct a new identity. Since bilingual publishing is a new trend, what identity is being constructed is rarely investigated. This article aims to explore the linguistic, content, and communicated identity of those journals. Content analysis was used to review the language policies (websites, article abstracts, and full articles), the composition of editorial teams, pools of contributors, instructions to authors, journal overviews, and website logos or journal covers of sixty-eight peripheral social sciences and humanities journals. The results indicate that the majority are attempting to construct a glocal identity, a hybrid identity to maintain their unique status as a local journal and simultaneously strive for better recognition in the international community. Another finding is that the journals are divided in terms of communicated identity, causing obstacles to the successful construction of a new identity. This study provides evidence on the construction of a glocal identity by bilingually published peripheral journals and has implications for the strategic use of linguistic and non-linguistic resources in identity construction.
Keywords: peripheral journals, translation, bilingual publishing, identity construction, glocal identity
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Translation-mediated bilingual publishing as a strategy to construct identity
  • 3.Methodology
  • 4.Results and discussions
    • 4.1Linguistic identity
    • 4.2Content identity
    • 4.3Communicated identity
    • 4.4Global, glocal or local identity
  • 5.Concluding remarks
  • References
Published online: 3 October 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lplp.22044.li
References (60)
References
Adamson, J. L., & Muller, T. (2016). Reviewer feedback on multilingual scholars’ writing for English publication: Perspectives from the ‘periphery’. Writing & Pedagogy, 8 (3), 521–538. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Annales. (2017). A message from the Annales (January 2017). [URL]
Arnbjörnsdóttir, B., & Ingvarsdóttir, H. (2018). Issues of identity and voice: Writing English for research purposes in the semi-periphery. In M. J. Curry & T. Lillis (Eds.), Global academic publishing: policies, perspectives, and pedagogies (pp. 73–87). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Bartholomäus, E., Goldbeck-Wood, S., Sewering, M., & Baethge, C. (2015). Experiences with bilingual publishing: Surveys of authors and editors. Learned Publishing, 28 (4), 283–291. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bennett, K. (2011). The scientific revolution and its repercussions on the translation of technical discourse. The Translator, 17 (2), 189–210. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2013). English as a lingua franca in academia: Combating epistemicide through translator training. The Interpreter and Translator Trainer, 7 (2), 169–193. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bocanegra-Valle, A. (2014). English is my default academic language: Voices from LSP scholars publishing in a multilingual journal. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 13 1, 65–77. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bustamante-López, I. (2008). Constructing linguistic identity in Southern California. In M. Niño-Murcia & J. Rothman (Eds.), Bilingualism and Identity: Spanish at the crossroads with other languages (pp. 279–300). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Çelik, B. (2019). Translation in the Kurdish magazine Hawar: The making and legitimization of a cultural identity. Translation and Interpreting Studies, 14 (2), 283–305. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cernicova-Buca, M. (2021). Language preferences in Romanian communication sciences journals: A web-based analysis. Publications, 9 (1), 11. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cianflone, E. (2014). Communicating science in international English: Scholarly journals, publication praxis, language domain loss and benefits. Círculo de Lingüística Aplicada a la Comunicación, 57 1, 45–58. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Crépon, M. (2001). Ce qu’on demande aux langues – autour du Monolinguisme de l’autre (What we ask of languages – Around the Monolingualism of the other). Raisons politiques, 2 (2), 27–40. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Demont-Heinrich, C. (2008). Beyond culture and (national) identity? Language, globalization and the discourse of universal progress in American newspaper coverage of English. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 1 (2), 136–157. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
da Silva, G. D. (2021). Language policies from the semiperiphery: An analysis of author guidelines in Brazilian English-medium journals. Ibérica, 41 1, 131–154. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Englander, K. (2009). Transformation of the identities of non-native English-speaking scientists as a consequence of the social construction of revision. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, 8(1), 35–53. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2011). The globalized world of English scientific publishing: An analytical proposal that situates a multilingual scholar. In G. Lopez-Bonilla & K. Englander (Eds.), Discourses and identities in contexts of educational change (pp. 208–229). Berlin: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Espinet, M., Izquierdo, M., & Garcia-Pujol, C. (2015). Can a Spanish science education journal become international? Cultural Studies of Science Education, 10 1, 1017–1031. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ferguson, G. (2013). English, development and education: Charting the tensions. In E. J. Erling & P. Seargeant (Eds.), English and development: Policy, pedagogy and globalization (pp. 25–46). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2007). The global spread of English, scientific communication and ESP: Questions of equity, access and domain loss. Iberica, 13 1, 7–38. [URL]
Flowerdew, J., & Wang, S. (2015). Identity in academic discourse. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 351, 81–99. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fuentes, R., & Gómez Soler, I. (2017). Foreign language faculty’s appropriation of an academic publishing policy at a US university. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 39 (3), 195–209. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gantman, E. R., Yousfi, H., & Alcadipani, R. (2015). Challenging Anglo-Saxon dominance in management and organizational knowledge. Revista de Administração de Empresas, 55(2), 126–129. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Guerini, F. (2018). Orthography as an identity marker: The case of bilingual road signs in the province of Bergamo. In K. Beeching, C. Ghezzi & P. Molinelli (Eds.), Positioning the self and others: Linguistic perspectives (pp. 263–283). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Henshall, A. C. (2018). English language policies in scientific journals: Signs of change in the field of economics. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 361, 26–36. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hewings, A., Lillis, T., & Vladimirou, D. (2010). Who’s citing whose writings? A corpus-based study of citations as interpersonal resource in English medium national and English medium international journals. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 9 1, 102–115. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hidalgo, M. (2008). Indicators of bilingualism and identity: Samples from the Spanish-speaking world. In M. Niño-Murcia & J. Rothman (Eds.), Bilingualism and Identity: Spanish at the crossroads with other languages (pp. 333–358). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kelly-Holmes, H. (2012). Multilingualism and the media. In M. Martin-Jones, A. Blackledge & A. Creese (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of multilingualism (pp. 333–346). London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Klein, D. B., & Chiang, E. (2004). The Social Science Citation Index: A black box – with an ideological bias? Econ Journal Watch, 1 1, 134–165. [URL]
Kuteeva, M., & Mauranen, A. (2014). Writing for publication in multilingual contexts: An introduction to the special issue. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 13 1, 1–4. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Langston, K. & Peti-Stantić, A. (2014). Language planning and national identity in Croatia. Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Li, X. (2018). What is the publication language in humanities? The case of Translation Studies scholars. English Today, 35 (2), 42–49. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2022). Translation-mediated bilingual publishing as a development strategy: A content analysis of the language policies of peripheral scholarly journals. Linguistica Antverpiensia, New Series: Themes in Translation Studies, 211, 153–182. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lillis, T. & Curry, M. J. (2010). Academic writing in a global context: The politics and practices of publishing in English. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Liu, W. (2016). The changing role of non-English papers in scholarly communication: Evidence from Web of Science’s three journal citation indexes. Learned Publishing, 30 (2), 115–123. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Luzón, M. (2018). Constructing academic identities online: Identity performance in research group blogs written by multilingual scholars. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 331, 24–39. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Martín Ruano, M. R. (2021). (Re)locating translation within asymmetrical power dynamics: Translation as an instrument of resistant conviviality. In O. C. Cortés & E. Monzó-Nebot (Eds.), Translating asymmetry: Rewriting power (pp. 335–360). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Messling, M. (2020). La difficile fabrique d’une revue globale (The challenges of producing a global journal). Annales: Histoire, Sciences Sociales, 75 (3), 667–679. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mongeon, P., & Paul-Hus, A. (2016). The journal coverage of Web of Science and Scopus: A comparative analysis. Scientometrics, 106 1, 213–228. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mur-Dueñas, P. (2013). Spanish scholars’ research article publishing process in English-medium journals: English used as a lingua franca? Journal of English as a Lingua Franca, 2 (2), 315–340. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Niño-Murcia, M. & Rothman, J. (2008). Spanish-contact bilingualism and identity. In M. Niño-Murcia & J. Rothman (Eds.), Bilingualism and identity: Spanish at the crossroads with other languages (pp. 11–33). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Olinger, A. R. (2011). Constructing identities through discourse: Stance and interaction in collaborative college writing. Linguistics and Education, 22(3), 273–286. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
O’Neil, D. (2018). English as the lingua franca of international publishing. World Englishes, 37 (2), 146–165. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ordorika, I. (2018). Las trampas de las publicaciones académicas (The academic publishing trap). Revista Española de Pedagogía, 76 (271), 463–480. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pennycook, A. (2003). Global Englishes, rip slyme, and performativity. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 7 (4), 513–533. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pulišelić, L., & Petrak, J. (2006). Is it enough to change the language? A case study of Croatian biomedical journals. Learned Publishing, 19 (4), 299–306. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ruiz-Corbella, M. (2018). De la edición impresa a la digital: la radical transformación de las revistas científicas en ciencias sociales (From print to digital publishing: The radical transformaction of scientific journals in the social sciences). Revista Española de Pedagogía, 76 (271), 499–517. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Salager-Meyer, F. (2008). Scientific publishing in developing countries: Challenges for the future. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 7 (2), 121–132. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2015). Peripheral scholarly journals: From locality to globality. Ibérica, 30 1, 15–36. [URL]
Sapiro, G. (2012). Editorial policy and translation. In Y. Gambier, & L. van Doorslaer (Eds.), Handbook of translation studies, Volume 3 (pp. 32–38). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Scollon, R., & Scollon, W. S. (2003). Discourses in place: Language in the material world. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schluer, J. (2014). Writing for publication in linguistics: Exploring niches of multilingual publishing among German linguists. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 16 1, 1–13. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Seidlhofer, B. (2010). Lingua franca English: The European context. In A. Kirkpatrick (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of world Englishes (pp. 355–371). London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. C. (2004). The social identity theory of intergroup behavior. In J. T. Jost & J. Sidanius (Eds.), Political psychology: Key readings (pp. 276–293). London: Psychology Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tietze, S. (2018). Multilingual research, monolingual publications: Management scholarship in English only? European Journal of International Management, 12 (1/2), 28–45. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tardy, C. (2004). The role of English in scientific communication: Lingua franca or Tyrannosaurus rex? Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 3 (3), 247–269. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Thomas, L., & Wareing, S. (2000). Language, society and power: An introduction. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Van Parijs, P. (2004). Europe’s linguistic challenge. European Journal of Sociology, 45 1, 113–154. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Warchał, K., & Zakrajewski, P. (2021). Multilingual publication practices in the social sciences and humanities at a Polish university: Choices and pressures. International Journal of Multilingualism. Advance online publication. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Xu, X., Oancea, A., & Rose, H. (2021). The impacts of incentives for international publications on research cultures in Chinese humanities and social sciences. Minerva, 59 1, 469–492. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zareva, A. (2013). Self-mention and the projection of multiple identity roles in TESOL graduate student presentations: The influence of the written academic genres. English for Specific Purposes, 32(2), 72–83. DOI logoGoogle Scholar