Challenges early career academics of ELT face in publishing in international journals

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine the challenges of early career academics working in the field of English Language Teaching (ELT) in Türkiye while publishing in international journals, which will contribute to the growing number of studies in different countries. In line with this thought, an online survey was administered. Semi-structured interviews were held to collect data for the study. Four main problems emerged from the findings: lack of institutional support, problems in collecting data, difficulty of planning research writing for the long term and under-training during postgraduate studies. From their suggestions, it is evident that early career academics should be offered training in writing for publication in the form of structured courses, seminars or workshops as part of the preparation for their academic careers. In addition, they need mentorship opportunities from experienced professors. It is also evident that their teaching hours should be reduced to allocate more time to their research and writing practices. Overall, highlighting the barriers to writing research articles and possible suggestions from the perspectives of early career academics can help graduate programme developers, supervisors and deans of faculties see the obstacles encountered and provide solutions for them.