Equity, diversity and inclusion in academic production and dissemination in languages other than English: Possibility or wishful thinking?
This study examines the influence of editorial policies on researchers’ language choices, especially in areas such as linguistics, where the choice of language is relevant and may be context-dependent, considering the hegemony of English in academic publications and the role of other ‘strong’ languages such as Spanish and Portuguese. Based on data from the Scimago Journal Ranking Index, the study compares the academic production in linguistics in Brazil and in Spain, the two most representative countries in terms of publications in Portuguese and Spanish, respectively, seeking to identify trends towards monolingualism in English, to the detriment of multilingualism with the use of other languages. Results of the bibliometric analysis suggest an increase in publications in English and is interpreted here as pressure to comply with international publication standards. Implications of this trend for global academic practices in general and towards English in particular, are discussed, especially in terms of equity, diversity and inclusion of knowledge production, dissemination and circulation focusing on issues of access, visibility and preservation of languages and cultures. The discussion brought to bear in the paper concludes that promoting multilingualism in the form of language diversity in the academia is necessary to guarantee a more equitable and inclusive society with ampler access to knowledge and academic publications.
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The normalization of digitalization (Steven & Borjesson, 2021) was revolutionary in its amplification of access to knowledge and scientific communication, especially for the dissemination of research results. The Gutenberg press and the paradigm supported by the printed format has become obsolete and, though it still often co-exists and resists in conjunction with the digital format, it tends to disappear or become less relevant and prevalent in the post-Covid 19 pandemic context (Gulliksen et al., 2022).