Cover not available

Article published In: Journal of English for Research Publication Purposes
Vol. 4:1 (2023) ► pp.5–28

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB
authorization required

“Most good papers are published in English”

Japanese academics’ perspectives on the benefits and drawbacks of writing and publishing in English

ORCiD logo with link | Independent Scholar
 | Kyoto University
Published online: 20 July 2023
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jerpp.22009.str
Abstract
Internationally, most prestigious and influential academic journals are published in English, and therefore a mastery of the language is necessary to ensure engagement with the international scientific community. There is debate in the literature as to whether the dominance of English might lead to the marginalization of contributions from academics for whom English is a second language. The present study explores through interviews the insights of 11 humanities and social sciences academics working at two Japanese universities ranked in the top 50 globally. The findings indicate that most of the participants view English as the logical vehicle for reaching a wider audience for their research. Despite an acknowledgement that publishing in English presents problems from both linguistic and pragmatic perspectives, these academics do not, on the whole, believe that current standards need to be revisited. These issues are discussed in light of the changing realities of academic environments, and the need to ensure accessible pathways for those who can and should be contributing to knowledge construction in the global academy.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Literature review
    • 1.2The present study
  • 2.Method
    • 2.1Participants
    • 2.2Procedure
    • 2.3Data coding and analysis
  • 3.Results
    • 3.1Academic English, as it is currently used, serves the global academic community well
    • 3.2Writing and publishing in English demands high resource costs
      • 3.2.1Sources, costs, and quality of proofreading assistance
      • 3.2.2Senior academics felt obliged to help their postgraduate students with their English
    • 3.3The difficulties L2 authors face in having their research accepted by leading English-medium journals deserve attention and greater scrutiny
  • 4.Discussion
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
References (52)
References
Arimoto, A., Daizen, T., & Huang, F. (2021). Changing policies of research, development and innovation and the characteristics of academics in Japan. In T. Aarrevaara (Ed.), Universities in the knowledge society, (pp.123–143). Springer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Barton, D., & Hamilton, M. (2000). Literacy practices. In D. Barton, M. Hamilton, & R. Ivanič, (Eds.), Situated literacies: Reading and writing in context (pp.7–15). Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Belcher, D., & Yang, H. S. (2020). Global perspectives on linguacultural variation in academic publishing. Journal of English for Research Publication Purposes, 1(1), 28–50. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brinkmann, S., & Kvale, S. (2015). InterViews: Learning the craft of qualitative research interviewing. Sage.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Canagarajah, S., & Lee, E. (2014). Negotiating alternative discourses in academic writing and publishing: Risks with hybridity. In L. Thesen & L. Cooper (Eds.), Risk in academic writing: Postgraduate students, their teachers and the making of knowledge (pp.59–99). Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Corcoran, J. (2019). Addressing the “bias gap”: A research driven argument for critical support of plurilingual scientists research writing. Written Communication, 36(4), 538–577. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Crystal, D. (2003). English as a global language (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Curry, M., & Lillis, T. (2014). Strategies and tactics in academic knowledge production by multilingual scholars. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 22 (32), 1–23. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Education First (2021). English Proficiency Index [URL]
Flowerdew, J. (2019). The linguistic disadvantage of scholars who write in English as an additional language: Myth or reality. Language Teaching, 521, 249–260. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Garfield, E. (1996). What is the primordial reference for the phrase “publish or perish”? The Scientist, 10(12), 11–12.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gee, J. (1989). Literacy, discourse, and linguistics: Introduction. Journal of Education 171(1), 5–17. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Habibie, P., & Starfield, S. (2020). Editorial. Visions and direction. Journal of English for Research Publication Purposes, 1 (1), 1–3. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hanauer, D., Sheridan, C., & Englander, K. (2019). Linguistic injustice in the writing of research articles in English as a second language: Data from Taiwanese and Mexican researchers. Written Communication, 36(1), 136–154. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hyland, K. (2009). English for professional academic purposes: Writing for scholarly publication. In D. Belcher (Ed.), English for specific purposes in theory and practice (pp. 83–105). Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2013). Writing in the university: Education, knowledge and reputation. Language Teaching 46(1), 53–70. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2016). Academic publishing and the myth of linguistic injustice. Journal of Second Language Writing, 311, 58–69. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hynninen, N. & Kuteeva, M. (2017). “Good” and “acceptable” English in L2 research writing: Ideals and realities in history and computer science. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 301, 53 – 65. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ishikawa, M. (2014). Ranking regime and the future of vernacular scholarship. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 22 (30), 1 – 27. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ishikawa, M., & Sun, C. (2016). The paradox of autonomy: Japan’s vernacular scholarship and the policy pursuit of “super global”. Higher Education Policy, 291, 451 – 472. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jenkins, J. (2015). Global Englishes. Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kachru, B. B. (1985). Standard, codification and sociolinguistic realism: The English language in the outer circle. In R. Quirk & H. Widdowson (Eds.) English in the World: Teaching and Learning the Language and Literatures, (pp. 11–30). Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
King, N., & Horrocks, C. (2010). Interviews in qualitative research. Sage.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lea, M., & Street, B. (1998). Student writing in higher education: An academic literacies approach. Studies in Higher Education, 23(2), 157–172. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2006). The “academic literacies” model: Theory and applications, Theory Into Practice, 45(4), 368–377. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lillis, T., & Curry, M. (2006). Professional academic writing by multilingual scholars: Interactions with literacy brokers in the production of English-medium texts. Written Communication, 23(1), 3–35. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2010). Academic writing in a global context: The politics and practices of publishing in English. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Luo, N. & Hyland, K. (2021). International publishing is a networked activity: Collegial support for Chinese scientists. Applied Linguistics, 42 (1), 164 – 185. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Manalo, E. (2022). Conducting international collaborative research: How to overcome common hurdles and set up for success. Information and Technology in Education and Learning, 2 (1), Inv-p002. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mauranen, A., & Ranta, E. (Eds.) (2009). English as a lingua franca: Studies and findings. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mauranen, A., Hynninen, N., & Ranta, E. (2016). English as the academic lingua franca. In K. Hyland & P. Shaw (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of English for academic purposes, (pp. 44–55). Taylor & Francis.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McDowell, L., & Liardét, C. (2019). Japanese materials scientists' experiences with English for research publication purposes. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 371, 141-153. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McFarlane, B. (2017). The paradox of collaboration: A moral continuum. Higher Education Research & Development, 36 (3), 472–485. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McGrail, M., Rickard, C., & Jones, R. (2006). Publish or perish: A systematic review of interventions to increase academic publication rates, Higher Education Research & Development, 25(1), 19–35. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McKinley, J., & Rose, H. (2018). Conceptualisations of language errors, standards, norms and nativeness in English for research publication purposes: An analysis of journal submission guidelines. Journal of Second Language Writing, 421, 1 – 11. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Merriam, S. (2009). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Paltridge, B. (2017). The discourse of peer review: Reviewing submissions to academic journals. Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pienimäki, H. (2021). Language professionals as regulators of academic discourse [Unpublished PhD thesis]. University of Helsinki.
Politzer-Ahles, S., Holliday, J., Girolamo, T., Spychalska, M., & Berkson, K. (2016). Is linguistic injustice a myth? A response to Hyland. Journal of Second Language Writing, 341, 3–8. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rozycki, W., & Johnson, N. (2013). Non-canonical grammar in best paper award winners in engineering. English for Specific Purposes, 321, 157–169. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Salō, L. (2017). The sociolinguistics of academic publishing: Language and the practices of homo academicus: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Seargeant, P. (2020). English in Japan. In K. Bolton, W. Botha, & A. Kirkpatrick (Eds.), The Handbook of Asian Englishes (pp.569 – 584). John Wiley & Sons. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sheridan, C. (2015). National journals and centering institutions: A historiography of an English language teaching journal in Taiwan. English for Specific Purposes, 70–84. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shiroza, S. (2021). Where does WE fit? Theoretical and practical considerations in integrating the world Englishes paradigm into Japanese higher education. English Literature & Language, 571, 59 – 84.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Solin, A., & Hynninen, N. (2018). Regulating the language of research writing: Disciplinary and institutional mechanisms. Language and Education, 32(6), 494–510. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Strauss, P. (2019). Shakespeare and the English poets: The influence of native speaking English reviewers on the acceptance of journal articles. Publications, 71, 201. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Street, B. (2006). Autonomous and ideological models of literacy: Approaches from new literacy studies. EASA Media Anthropology Network E-Seminar 91. [URL]
Sutton, P. (2017). Lost souls? The demoralisation of academic labour in the measured university. Higher Education Research & Development, 36 (3), 625–636. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Teichler, U. (2019). The academics and their institutional environment in Japan – A view from outside, Contemporary Japan, 31(2), 234–263. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yano, Y. (2011). English as an international language and ‘Japanese English’. In P. Seargeant (Ed.), English in Japan in the era of globalisation, (pp. 125 – 142). Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (8)

Cited by eight other publications

Ewuoso, Cornelius
2025. What is required to foster transformational inclusion in journal article publications?. Wellcome Open Research 9 ► pp. 340 ff. DOI logo
Huang, Luyun, Khalil Md Nor, Xin Ma & Saleh F. A. Khatib
2025. Trends and future directions of consumers’ intention to buy ethical products: a systematic literature review. Cogent Business & Management 12:1 DOI logo
Mirhosseini, Seyyed-Abdolhamid & Lianjiang Jiang
2025. Is the dominance complete?: the (im)possibility of projecting diverse sociocultural voices in L2 English publishing. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Sheridan, Cheryl L.
2025. Languages of publication among multilingual researchers: Locality to mobility in the Taiwan context. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 75 ► pp. 101501 ff. DOI logo
Stringer, Thomas & Eoin Jordan
2025. A Qualitative Synthesis of Practitioner Research of English Language Learner Autonomy in Higher Education in Japan. Research Synthesis in Applied Linguistics ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Liu, Jiaqi & Yongyan Zheng
2024. The emergence of epistemic agency in researching multilingually: An autoethnography of a Chinese researcher's academic publishing practices. International Journal of Applied Linguistics DOI logo
Martín, Pedro & Isabel León-Pérez
2024. The evolution of sub-disciplinary linguistic trends. Journal of English for Research Publication Purposes 5:1-2 ► pp. 60 ff. DOI logo
Pianda, Didi, Hilmiana Hilmiana, Sunu Widianto & Dina Sartika
2024. The impact of internship experience on the employability of vocational students: a bibliometric and systematic review. Cogent Business & Management 11:1 DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 13 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue