“There’s No Discrimination, These Are Just the Rules of the Game”: Russian Scholars’ Perception of the Research Writing and Publication Process in English

Irina Shchemeleva

doi:10.3390/publications9010008

Irina Shchemeleva

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/publications9010008

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Abstract

This paper reports on the study of multilingual speakers’ perception of their research writing practices in English and in their local language—Russian—and the publication process in English. It is based on interviews with 18 scholars from social sciences and humanities working in a leading university in Russia. The study discusses social factors influencing multilingual scholars’ choice of languages as well as their personal motivation to choose English as the main language of publication. Special attention is given to their attitude to proofreading as part of the publication process. The interview results suggest that, from the participants’ perspective, the benefits they gain by publishing research in English seem to outweigh costs they experience in the process of writing and publishing. The study contributes to the on-going debate about the position of multilingual scholars in the competition to publish in top-rated journals, suggesting that the traditional doctrine of linguistic injustice, from the participants’ point-of-view, does not seem to be relevant for every multilingual scholar.

Highlights

Rules of the Game”: Russian Scholars’One of the key strategic priorities of contemporary universities has become internationalization, generally understood as “the integration of an international or intercultural dimension into the tripartite mission of teaching, research, and service functions of higher education” [1], (p. 1)
This suggests that the participants of the study may be called typical representatives of multilingual scholars outside the Anglophone centre who are successful in their research career
By uncovering the factors that motivate scholars to use English and to find out their perception of English as an academic lingua franca, this study contributes to the on-going discussion of the position of multilingual scholars working outside Anglophone countries in contemporary academia, which is “essentially English as a lingua franca setting” [4], (p. 6)

Summary

Introduction

Rules of the Game”: Russian Scholars’One of the key strategic priorities of contemporary universities has become internationalization, generally understood as “the integration of an international or intercultural dimension into the tripartite mission of teaching, research, and service functions of higher education” [1], (p. 1). To build a strong reputation as well as to attract international students and researchers, universities around the globe design English as a medium of instruction programs and open international research laboratories. This means that both within and outside of Anglophone contexts, multilingual scholars use English as the language of teaching instruction and research. Another characteristic of contemporary academia is a focus on accountability [5,6], which is manifested in the implementation of quality assessment schemes [7]. For non-Anglophone contexts, it means that publication in English is favoured compared to publication in local languages [9,11]

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