Language, research, and publication

Abstract

This article shares the story of a locally-educated English as an additional language author who attributed her fledgling research publications in English-medium international journals to an innate interest in languages, extensive experience of text engagement and mediation, and the kindness of “strangers”. The study draws from journal entries, publication records, and correspondence with significant others over ten years, during which the author went from an undergraduate English-major student to an author’s translator and editor before trying to conduct and publish her own research in an English as a foreign language context. From an insider perspective, the personal account reflects on the confusion and struggle of a peripheral author who learnt to navigate her way towards research and publication without the ease of resource access, supervisor guidance, academic training, and support networks. Tracking how the author perceived research and scholarship along her journey, it considers the role of language as a means of academic authors’ self-cultivation and providing egalitarian access to the world of knowledge and research that transcends structural constraints. The article also critically examines the centre-periphery tension in scholarly publishing and offers implications to help engage resource-deprived, disadvantaged authors in an increasingly interconnected world of knowledge construction.