TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Confronting challenges in writing for international publications
In the context of global citizenship, higher learning institutions are compelled not only to push their academic staffers to publish internationally, but also to equip them with viable strategies of writing for academic purposes
Change Size
I
n the context of global citizenship, higher learning institutions are compelled not only to push their academic staffers to publish internationally, but also to equip them with viable strategies of writing for academic purposes.
In a bid to boost the quality of the country’s higher learning institutions, Research, Technology and Higher Education Minister Mohammad Nasir has recently called for academia to produce at least 15 international publications.
The minister believes that more international publications can fortify the reputation of local higher learning institutions in this ASEAN Economic Community era.
What’s more, international publication has become the absolute requirement for graduate students to earn a doctorate degree as well as for the promotion of professorship.
It is laudable that in encouraging more international journal publications by Indonesian academicians, the Indonesian Directorate General of Higher Learning Institutions (DIKTI) has consistently supported the policy by providing the research grants for local researchers as well as the incentives (up to Rp 100 million) for those whose scholarly works are published in international journals listed in the Thomson Reuter Indexation.
Despite being well-intentioned, the policy on writing for international publication cannot be equally applied to all higher learning institutions for reasons that not all members of an academy are poised to write, let alone have their research published in scholarly journals.
To complicate this, not all institutions are equipped with supporting facilities needed to get access to publishing journals internationally.
After all, the pertinent problem lies not in the ability to design a research proposal and to conduct research, but rather to report research findings in English.
As most top-tier international journals are dominated by Western publishing companies, English has undoubtedly become the language of scholarly exchanges in the journals.
Generally for non-native speakers of English, writing for international publication requires an assiduous feat, as they need to grapple with the language components such as structural patterns and choice of words appropriate for written language.
Yet, for those without a background in the English language, the problem gets even more delicate.
Apart from wrestling with the language, they need to develop an awareness that journal articles have a unique rhetorical style and jargon, which are quite distinct from other types of writing like business correspondence, newspaper editorials or short stories amongst others.
A revealing empirical study by applied linguist John Flowerdew has shown that common problems for non-native speakers of English in writing and getting published in international journals include lack of facility of expression, lack of vocabulary stock, lack of ability in asserting claims, flowery writing and lack of ability in writing introductions.
Nevertheless, as all top-notch international journals are strictly gate-kept by vigilant reviewers, proficiency in written English does not ensure success in publication. Well-written articles may be rejected due to problems that go beyond language matters.
These may include lack of appeal to an international readership, no relevance to the scope and aim of the journal, nothing new about the topic proposed, no convincing arguments made for a broader readership, and lack of updated references, just to mention a few.
Given these complex writing and publishing challenges, we need to lower our expectations. Developing confidence in writing should become a priority.
It is thus wise not just to force members of local academia (especially those having no experience in writing) to publish internationally, but also to help them prepare the right strategies to confront challenges in writing.
One initial plausible step would be to familiarize them with the “texture” of a journal article and the conventions governing it.
In this case, reading and consciously analyzing the unique texture of writing for academic purposes is helpful to raise consciousness of what a journal article looks like. These may sound commonsensical, yet it is this exhortation that is often overlooked.
Once the control over the texture has been gained, exploration of topics to be written can start.
Annotating available research findings from journals is useful for developing strong background knowledge of the topic.
It can also help in gaining insights into the state of the art of the topics to be written about.
The clear pedagogical value for these exhortations is that they help novice writers sharpen their analytical skill, a skill that is needed for academic writing.
Unless we help novice writers and researchers develop confidence in writing for publication, our expectations in obliging them to publish in international journals will merely end in disillusionment. (Setiono Sugiharto)
_____________
The writer teaches at the English Department, Education and Language School, Atma Jaya Catholic University, Jakarta. He can be contacted at setiono.sugiharto@gmail.com.
