Abstract
Many Korean scholars rely on language professionals for preparing English manuscripts. So far, little has been reported on how Korean scholars utilize them and how they perceive various types of help received. This study examines how Korean scholars utilize for-pay editors and translators, and how they perceive various types of textual modifications incurred in the process, based on the data obtained through a survey completed by 88 Korean faculty from three universities. Half of the participants received proofreading help from for-pay editors, and fewer participants received help with translation. They held widely differing views on ethicality concerning scenarios that involved global- and content-level editing; none of the help described was perceived as clearly unethical. This paper argues that as the academic communities benefit from the knowledge and insights created through research conducted by scholars across the world, it is necessary to establish proper boundaries of writing help.
Highlights
More scholars in non-English speaking countries seek publications in English-medium journals to increase visibility to their studies and/or to meet the demands of their academic institutions, which place a high premium on papers published in high-impact English journals for faculty promotion and tenure
For the English as an additional language (EAL) scholars who live in non-English speaking countries, native English-speaking peers who can provide such help are not always accessible, and for this reason, scholars resort to the for-pay editors and translators who specialize in scholarly publishing
The mean score for the question concerning whether the expenses incurred by the use of for-pay editors was financially burdensome was 3.5, slanting towards “agree” (See Table 1)
Summary
More scholars in non-English speaking countries seek publications in English-medium journals to increase visibility to their studies and/or to meet the demands of their academic institutions, which place a high premium on papers published in high-impact English journals for faculty promotion and tenure. Multilingual scholars, who desire to publish in English-medium journals often seek help from language professionals, are faced with challenges, such as the lack of English language facilities and the lack of knowledge regarding genre and disciplinary conventions [1,2,3]. Some scholars write their manuscripts in their native language and hire a translator to translate their work into English. For the EAL scholars who live in non-English speaking countries, native English-speaking peers who can provide such help are not always accessible, and for this reason, scholars resort to the for-pay editors and translators who specialize in scholarly publishing
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