Indonesian researchers’ scholarly publishing: an activity theory perspective

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study aims to advance global readers’ understanding of the scholarly publishing (SP) activity system experienced by six English language teaching (ELT) Indonesian lecturers using the activity theory as a framework that focuses on its concepts of contradiction, boundary objects, and boundary crossing. Semi-structured interviews were used to understand the six participants’ experiences and practices as researchers in producing scholarly material for international publication. Primary obstacles to their scientific publication came in the form of excessive workload, lack of funds, and lack of access to international journals. Nevertheless, the participants were able to surmount the arising challenges by treating them as bridging tools to connect their teaching, research, and community services. The findings raise important theoretical and practical issues dealing with the coping strategies for SP activity system as applied by the participants, which are: (1) crossing boundaries by conducting research-based teaching and community service; and (2) reconstructing the scientific publication activity system from individual to collaborative SP. One implication is the understanding of how participants manage crisis by connecting their multiple activity systems as objects to overcome obstacles occurring in their scholarly publishing activity system.