English-language Academic Journals Research Articles

The Neo-Colonial Political Economy of Scholarly Publishing: Its UK-US Origins, Maxwell's Role, and Implications for Sub-Saharan Africa

The prevailing dynamics of today's global scholarly publishing ecosystem were largely established by UK and US publishing interests in the years immediately after the Second World War. With a central role played by publisher Robert Maxwell, the two nations that emerged victorious from the war were able to dilute the power of German-language academic publishing-dominant before the war-and bring English-language scholarship, and in particular English-language journals, to the fore. Driven by intertwined nationalist, commercial, and technological ambitions, English-language academic journals and impact metrics gained preeminence through narratives grounded in ideas of "global" reach and values of "excellence"-while "local" scholarly publishing in sub-Saharan Africa, as in much of the developing world, was marginalised. These dynamics established in the post-war era still largely hold true today, and need to be dismantled in the interests of more equitable global scholarship and socio-economic development.

Curt Sachs Is No Longer Number One! Confronting Chinese Students’ Expectations of Essentialist Theorizing in Dance Research

ABSTRACT Chinese postgraduate dance students can be surprised by epistemological expectations when commencing research degrees outside China. This can result from translations into Mandarin of very dated dance scholarship from Europe. Specifically, Curt Sachs’ 1933 book World History of the Dance continues as a pervasive representation of Western dance scholarship in current dance research published in Mandarin. Within this article we collate key examples of academic literature published in Mandarin during the last twenty years to show how World History of the Dance continues to be used to support essentialism in dance research in China. We connect this with critical arguments from international dance scholars, identifying why Sachs’ publications from the early 20th century have been rejected within English language academic journals. While this comparative analysis of dance scholarship reveals deep epistemological differences across learning cultures, this paper further evidences how essentialist theories can construct cultural hierarchies in dance.

Rail trails literature: Current status and future research

Rail trail developments involve converting disused railway corridors into multi-use spaces for leisure, tourism, and sustainable mobility. The transformation of disused railway corridors into successful rail trail developments in the United States, New Zealand and the United Kingdom has contributed to a resurgence in community, government and business interest in developing rail trails in other countries. As evident from several jurisdictions, rail trail development has the potential to spark debates around fundamental issues related to prudent use of dormant public assets, namely railway corridors. This exploratory systematic review examined peer-reviewed studies of rail trails published in English language academic journals to examine the substance, extent and research gaps of this distinct subset of the broader literature on trails. A fledgling, fragmented body of knowledge was identified, spanning themes from planning, management and user experience to social, economic and environmental impacts of rail trails. Directions for future research are provided.

Komparativna analiza članaka o učećoj organizaciji u srpskim i austrijskim akademskim žurnalima

The author is comparing two small academic communities to test the time discrepancies in publishing of an academic discovery between the world's leading English language journals and those from peripheries. The chosen academic communities are Serbia and Austria, similar in size, with a shared fact that the main academic language is not the English language. However, the economic strength of those countries is quite different. For testing the time discrepancies, the author will test the time lag in discovering a management fad in those countries, comparing to the world's leading journal discoveries. One of detected management fads in the English language academic journals is the learning organization, with a typical peak in publishing in the year 1995. In this research, the peak was discovered in Austrian journals in the year 1997, and 15 years later in the Serbian ones. The author is arguing toward the tighter connections with the world academic community, as the conditio sine qua non for an advancement of small academic communities.

The Increasing Role of English in Thai Academic Publications

The role of English as a medium of communication especially in the academic domain has been accelerated. This is reflected in the growing number of English language academic journals in non-English dominant countries such as: China, India and Spain (Ren and Rousseau 2004; Xian 2006). Similar to other peripheral countries, Thailand is no exception. This situation results in competition between the national language and English. This present study compares the language choice of academic papers published in Thai national journals in two major fields: science, and its counterpart, humanities and social science. The data collection includes a corpus of 663 articles published in 2005 and in 2015, specifically 346 from Science and 317 from Humanities and Social science. We have hypothesized that English plays a more significant role in scientific journals compared to those in Humanities and Social science. In addition to the language choice in Thai academic journals, a questionnaire was also distributed to 73 respondents to investigate the language ideology of Thai scholars in choosing a language for their manuscripts. The result reveals that many Thai scholars choose English in writing manuscripts due to the lack of technical terms in their field in Thai whereas some of them prefer Thai due to the publication process and the Thai readership orientation.

Enduring hardships in global knowledge asymmetries: a national scenario of China’s English-language academic journals in the humanities and social sciences

Since the 2000s, China has been fast establishing English-language academic journals to further internationalize research. This article delineates a national scenario of such journals in the humanities and social sciences (HSS) and explores their efforts and predicaments in bringing China’s HSS research to the world. Based on first-hand data collected empirically through interviews and documents, it shows that HSS English-language journals in China attempt to challenge yet are conditioned at the same time by the imbalanced international knowledge structure. While still at a preliminary stage of development in terms of quantity and quality, the journals have already been confronted with major challenges including English language hurdles, unfavorable position in research evaluation systems, unfamiliarity with standards of international academic writing and publishing, and tensions between international ambition and local commitment. This article argues that HSS journals in non-Western societies including China need to strike a balance between their contemporary bid for international visibility and long-term contribution to multiple perspectives in global HSS research.

China’s English-Language Journals in Human and Social Sciences

Since the 2000s, China has been establishing English-language academic journals at a fast pace to further internationalize research. Reporting findings from an investigation on the current state of such journals in the humanities and social sciences, this article shows the great challenges that they face in the hierarchical global structure of knowledge production. Struggling between international ambition and local commitment, these journals try to balance realistic strategies to enhance international impact with orientation to Western research agendas and their long-term commitment to empowering Chinese researchers to become global.

Disciplinary Differences of Topical Progression in Discourse: The Case of Abstracts in Applied Linguistics and Literary Studies

Conducting research and successfully communicating research findings play an important part in the life of academic researchers and university students. Writing a publishable quality article can be exceptionally challenging for novice researchers and university students alike. However, if scholars want to become part of the discourse community in their research field, they should become familiar with the genre requirements of their discipline. It is especially important for them to be able to write an appropriate abstract because it can promote the research article. To help the novice researchers of English Literature and English Applied Linguistics gain an insight into the main features of a successful research article abstract, the present study analysed the topical structures of 10 Applied Linguistics and 10 Literary Studies abstracts, which were published in two prestigious journals of their respective fields. The outcomes of the study attempt to provide guidelines for both university students and novice researchers who would like to publish their works in English language academic journals.

Engaging with Identity Politics in Canadian Political Science

AbstractThis paper critiques the deployment of the term “identity politics” in Canadian political science. Through a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of research articles in leading English language academic journals in the Canadian social sciences, we examine whose politics are labelled identity politics and what intellectual work transpires through this label. Identity politics tends to be applied to scholarship that foregrounds analyses of ethnicity, race and gender, but with a lack of analytical rigour, indicating a degree of conceptual looseness. Moreover, the designation identity politics is not neutral; it is often mobilized as a rhetorical device to distance authors from scholarship that foregrounds analyses of ethnicity, race and gender, and to inscribe a materialist/culturalist divide in claims-making. We argue that the effect of this demarcation of identity from politics is to control the boundaries of political discourse, limiting who and what gains entry into the political. This serves to reassert an exclusionary conception of Canadian identity.

Ecotourism’s contributions to conservation: analysing patterns in published studies

ABSTRACT Ecotourism is often promoted for its potential to act as a conservation mechanism by: mobilising political, financial and social support for conservation; increasing environmental awareness; protecting sensitive ecosystems and threatened species; and providing an alternate income to land-intensive or consumptive practices. Although instances to date indicate that this can indeed prove highly successful in some circumstances, the conservation impact of the ecotourism sector on a larger scale is unclear. This study identified 70 papers published prior to January 2016 in English language academic journals that examine the conservation actions and outcomes of ecotourism enterprises. There were three key findings within this study. Firstly, conservation actions have been examined more frequently than conservation outcomes. Secondly, there has been a strong focus on indirect approaches to conservation such as visitor education and community-based actions, and a shortage of studies measuring direct impacts on wildlife populations or other components of the natural bio-physical environment. Thirdly, the majority of sites studied are located in developing countries, but the majority of authors are located in developed countries. By identifying these gaps and patterns that currently exist in the academic literature, this review helps to direct and support future research agendas.

A systematic review of motivation of sport event volunteers

ABSTRACTThe aims of this paper are to summarize the current status of the literature on motivation of sport event volunteers and identify research gaps in order to suggest a research agenda for the future research. It develops a better understanding of approach to sport event volunteers’ motivation and how it could be applied to volunteer management in sport events. Through a systematic review method, this study searched and categorized 33 original peer reviewed research papers published in English language academic journals. From the review, this paper updates new database and suggests that a wide range of motivation represented by sport event volunteers may be considered to apply an effective volunteer management for successful sport events.

Lost in translation? Comparative education research and the production of academic knowledge

The worth of academic knowledge tends to be tested against global metrics of citations and articles published in high-ranking English language academic journals. This paper examines academic knowledge production in three local fields of research with different national languages (English, Finnish and French). It focuses on knowledge production on the topic of apprenticeship where there are distinctive differences in the three local research fields and the associated patterns of academic publication over a 15-year period. The findings suggest that publication patterns are still largely tied to the respective national languages. Concerns are raised about the limited visibility of non-Anglophone local contexts and conceptual frameworks as filtered through global academic knowledge production processes. The language practices in the production of academic knowledge need to be challenged to ensure that knowledge from these sources is not lost in translation or in the re-contextualisation for global audiences.

A Systematic Quantitative Review Of Volunteer Management in Events

Most event organizations rely on the commitment of volunteers to prepare for and stage events. An attempt to understand factors that affect volunteers' engagement and retention has received much attention from a substantial number of published studies. This article provides a systematic quantitative review of 71 original, peer-reviewed research articles published in English language academic journals on volunteer management in events. The review examines the nature of the research, methods, key concepts and theories, and types of research questions posed in studies associated with volunteer management in events. Published studies on event volunteer management are geographically concentrated in several countries but published in 35 different journals across a range of fields. Volunteer management in events has been the focus of rapidly increasing research attention in recent years with almost two thirds of the articles included in the review published in the 6 years leading to 2014. The majority of published research has not clearly articulated a theoretical framework and most studies have used survey methods to collect data from volunteers at mega-sport events. It was concluded that to advance knowledge of event volunteer management there is a need for increased collaboration internationally between researchers. Moreover, it is essential to engage with relevant theory in order to better understand and predict the effectiveness of volunteer management strategies in recruiting, retaining, and building a sense of community among volunteers in events.

Language Education in Asia and Local Authors

Language Education in Asia (LEiA) was established to support local authors whose voices may be underrepresented in peer-reviewed international English language academic journals and to provide academic articles with practical applications for our readers. As the journal completes its fifth year, the editorial team looks forward to a strengthened emphasis on supporting local authors in the Asian region. With the imminent economic integration of the ten states forming the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its impact on language education policies, programs, practices, and more, we particularly encourage submissions from ASEAN-based authors.

Research on China's Tourism: A 35-Year Review and Authorship Analysis

This study reviewed 333 articles on China's tourism from 96 English-language academic journals within and outside of tourism from 1978 to 2012. Tourism policy and impacts, and tourism industry development and promotion were the two predominant research themes. Tourism development, policy, ecological impacts, attractions and markets were the five most popular topics. On the basis of an authorship relationship analysis, three research networks were producing most of the China tourism research output in English. A majority of the authors were based in Mainland China, the USA and Hong Kong. Trends and gaps in the literature on China's tourism were identified. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Review of NGO performance research published in academic journals between 1996 and 2008

Globally, literature on the performance of development non-governmental organisations (NGOs) has increased. However, little is known regarding the distinctive characteristics of academic articles on factors influencing NGO performance. In a recent systematic review of research, published in English-language academic journals between 1996 and 2008, factors influencing NGO performance were investigated. From the 31 journal articles that met the inclusion criteria, this study examined the salient characteristics of NGO performance research in terms of, (1) the number of publications, (2) publication outlets (journals and journal cluster), (3) author collaboration (sole or joint authors), (4) author affiliation, (5) study location, (6) study period, (7) study topics and (8) method and sources of information. Findings showed a steady increase in the number of articles, published in a wide array of journals with over half of the articles published in development studies journals. Of the 31 articles, 21 were sole authored. Data were mainly sought from NGO directors, programme staff and donors; comparatively fewer studies collected data from beneficiaries. Studies were mainly conducted in developing countries, whilst most authors were affiliated to institutions in developed countries. Of the 13 authors who conducted studies in Africa only 3 were affiliated to an institution in Africa. This study confirmed the continued need for increased research on factors influencing NGO performance; revealed the low seeking of beneficiaries’ perspectives in NGO performance research despite the rhetoric of participatory development; and revealed the low number of published researchers in Africa and minimal collaborative efforts between ‘Northern’ and ’Southern’ researchers in this field.

Otolaryngology Review Studies: Adherence to MA/SR Guidelines

Objective: Many high-impact medical journals have adopted methodological standards for conducting systematic reviews (SRs) and meta-analyses (MAs). These standards have emerged via the convergence of guidelines advocated by the Cochrane Group, the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality, the Guidelines International Network, and other groups in an effort to further utilize evidence-based medicine (EBM) in clinical practice. The overarching goal of this study is to assess the successful application of these standards across otolaryngology literature. Method: Studies that employed formal SR/MA techniques and were published within the 16 highest impact general otolaryngology journals (up to December 1, 2011) were selected. Each study was graded by multiple reviewers using a scale based upon the 2009 PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) criteria, including factors pertaining to database searches, study inclusion and exclusion criteria, data management, and bias minimization. Results: Of the 84,284 studies published in the top 16 English-language academic otolaryngology journals (up to 12/01/2011), 150 employed formal SR/MA techniques. Overall, 45% of these were devoted to head and neck topics, a much greater percentage than in any other otolaryngology subfield. Less than 0.2% of studies published in these journals employ SR/MA techniques, but this percentage has increased steadily over the past 10 years. Conclusion: Currently, SRs and MAs are regarded as the methodological “gold-standard” for clinical reviews. The prevalence of such studies within the otolaryngology literature is increasing, but opportunity exists for broader application of these approaches and greater adherence to contemporary methodological standards.

Critical analysis of developments in Romanian accounting during the 20th century: a neo-institutional approach

There is very little material in English language academic journals regarding accounting history in Romania. Most prior research has focused on a specific year or a short period of time without providing a theoretical explanation or interpretation. The goal of this article is to provide a longitudinal presentation of developments in Romanian accounting during the 20th century and to propose a neo-institutional explanation of this evolution. The study identifies a normative influence in Romanian accounting practices during the first 50 years of the 20th century, a coercive one, imposed until 1989, by a centralised communist system, and from 1989 to the present, a mixed isomorphism oriented around French, European and international accounting systems. Lacking a period of introspection, the authors feel that there is little hope that Romanian accounting will rediscover its unique culture, or will manage to build upon or improve its indigenous base in the current international context.

Thirty years of research on tourism and hospitality management in China: A review and analysis of journal publications

The tourism industry in China has undergone rapid development since 1978 and is foreseen as being the world's largest tourism market by 2020. However, no comprehensive review of literature in this context has been completed, and international academics have little understanding of China tourism research. This paper aims to provide an overview of 119 articles selected from six leading English language academic journals published from 1978 to 2008. Content analysis points to the evolving trend in Asian universities in terms of journal contributions. Consumer behavior has gained popularity as a research topic, and will likely remain as a prevalent research theme in the near future. A tendency toward multiple-authorship, rather than single authorship, and more sophisticated methodological procedures has also been found. Future analysis may focus on including other forms of publications and Chinese language journals to capture the full picture of China tourism.

Effect of cooperation between Chinese scientific journals and international publishers on journals’ impact factor

Growing cooperation between Chinese journals and international publishers invites an investigation of the effect of this cooperation, based on an analysis of journal IF changes. Data from 23 Chinese academic journals were chosen from about 50 English-language academic journals indexed by SCI or SCIE and with a long history of cooperation. The data do not suggest that cooperation has improved the journals’ IF thus far. It appears that cooperation is generally limited to international distribution, and this has a weak influence on the quality of the journal and its IF, even though the papers can be accessed by worldwide users through publishers’ international distribution networks. Cooperation with international publishers is one step, but actively working on the quality of the journals is a more important step.