TQ Editor's Ponderings: Comments

Comment on "Rejected Authors Fight Back!"

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 00:43:22 -0500

But I've published hundreds of articles on my blog, why can't I get published!?...lol I enjoyed reading this! It's interesting hearing the side of the story coming from the rejector.

- Nate Shenk

Comment on "World Englishes in Academic Journals"

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 07:00:01 -0500

I have been reprimanded at least twice in my life for writing "as if submitting an academic requirement". I believe that there are certain areas of the Internet which need to be largely "conversational" in tone, and there should also be areas which need to be in a more formal or serious one. The more important thing which has to be considered may be summed up in this question:

"Have I conveyed my message to my audience that the latter understands it?"

Just my two cents.

- Jayson Guevarra | Expert Online Freelancer

Comment on "World Englishes in Academic Journals"

Wed, 05 Jan 2011 13:05:54 -0500

You may already be familiar with the 2004 book published by Duke University Press for the American Dialect Society by Samy Alim entitled _You Know My Steez: An Ethnographic and Sociolinguistic Study of Styleshifting in a Black American Speech Community_. If not, you'll enjoy looking at it as a wonderful example of effective use of AAVE in scholarly discourse.

- Mike Medley

Comment on "The Plight of Off-networked Authors"

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 05:55:59 -0500

Very interesting comments. As a third world scholar myself, I use informal channels to get access to get access to first world publication materials. I ask several of my colleagues in USA, Netherlands and Sweden to send me pdfs of relevant journal articles I cannot otherwise get access to. I know they are technically not supposed to do this, but really copyright issues are not to be taken that seriously! Check this: Africa Journals Online.

- Malang

Comment on "Christmas –time Simultaneous Submission of Multiple Articles"

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:10:03 -0500

Forwarded to me by Jiang Tianmin, who has asked me to post the comment on his behalf:

I am a novice researcher and teacher in the profession of ELT. I got my MA in 2002 with a major in translation studies from a foreign studies university in China and then in 2008, a postgraduate diploma in English Language Teaching in a Singapore university.

During my MA program, I was required to write academic papers in English (if my memory serves me right, Chinese was ok only for one course) since I was majored in English. There were disputes at that time, and at present as well, about writing academically in English or in Chinese, and there were many arguing that researchers, especially student researchers, should write in Chinese because, as they claimed, writing in a second or foreign language as English seriously hamper the quality of an academic paper. Getting papers published in an international journal was certainly plausible but getting them published in Chinese in local journals seemed more practical. This actually put us students in an embarrassing situation, we were trying desperately to write English papers which were viewed as of low quality by many teachers (to be frank, few of my MA teachers had had the experience of publishing their papers in international journals) and on the other hand, we were pressured to get at least one paper published so that we could graduate. Fortunately I had the course paper written in Chinese published in the second year of my MA program. Anyway, this was quite discouraging: many of my fellow students would write (in English) for the course, not in any way with the intention to publish, not to mention to contribute to the academia. The pressure of finishing the courses drove us to read literature in English while the pressure to publish, to translate. Some of my fellow students succeeded, but I failed since most of my reading at that time was in English and I found it almost impossible to put my papers satisfactorily in Chinese (one of the teachers suggested more than once that I should put one of my course paper and my graduation thesis in Chinese and get them published, I tried and immediately gave up). The diffidence injected by the teachers plus the ignorance of publication access and process held me back from even trying to send my manuscripts to any English-medium journals. It was until 2005, 3 years after my graduation, I began to send some chapters of my graduation thesis to English-medium journals and they were accepted. All these are good surprises to cheer me up, but not enough (Last year, when I was asked to be a guest editor of an English medium journal, I was more than terrified.

Some researchers in Hongkong researched about the trade-off of publishing in English and in Chinese as perceived by Chinese scholars, saying that many take “in Chinese” as their choice. In my opinion, besides the diffidence that haunts me, many scholars do perceive local and international publication differently. You talked about the pressure and motivation of publishing internationally, true. In the university where I work, and I think it is true from many, publishing in international journals with high impact factor is quite rewarding, in every sense of the word. However, such journals are confined to sci. Publishing in other journals, or non first tier journals is not rewarding, or better say, less rewarding than publishing in corresponding local journals. The two articles I mentioned above did not win me many academic credits. Besides this, many would think publishing internationally is more difficult than publishing locally. For them, the review process of international publications is stricter than that of local ones: for the former, the quality of the paper is the only factor while for the latter, there are factors other than quality, such as relations, money, etc, factors they can find ways to take care of. This may somehow account for the rampancy of plagiarism among Chinese scholars. So far, researches on plagiarism focuses on their English proficiency or cultural practices or ignorance of western academic practices, while less attention is given to its social dimensions. The saying “First tier scholars plagiarize from western scholars, second tier scholars, from scholars in Hongkong, third tier scholars, from each other” has been quite popular for some time. The close link between publication and tangible and intangible reward makes publication real “capital”, probably true for both east and west. However, the rigorousness of the western academia somehow secures the real value of publications while in China, many pay attention to only the face value of publications, and the lack of relevant regulations and punishments make it possible. Fortunately, things are becoming better now with more misconducts made public and punished. Still, such punishments, as criticized by some scholars, are not severe enough.

- SURESH CANAGARAJAH

Comment on "Negotiating Publishing Practices"

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:08:51 -0500

Forwarded to me by Jiang Tianmin, who has asked me to post the comment on his behalf:

- SURESH CANAGARAJAH

Comment on "Does Packaging Matter Anymore?"

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 11:26:00 -0500

Many of us in the world of academic book publishing--libraries, too--are asking the same questions.

Unfortunately, it seems that one answer emerging from our "information culture" is: nobody cares. The richly textured, well-conceived reading experience created by a thoughtful editor, or even the well-designed page, is seen as nearly superfluous. It is now being called "surplus value." As readers are morphing into "users," the evidence suggests that traditional approaches are offering them a value they do not value. When users see an opportunity to pluck the low-hanging information--all they know they need--from the branch, they will do so.

In a way, the trend seems motivated by a fundamental pragmatism, a utilitarianism as you suggest, oriented to a perceived hierarchy of need at the moment of research. Anything not obviously related to the moment of need seems wasteful: the unread library book, the introductory remarks of a journal editor.

To read, to understand, to reflect on the full experience of a journal or a book with all the value added by the traditional editorial process takes a habit of mind that is growing rare as cultural pressure mounts to produce ever more at an ever faster pace. Users do not seek experience; they seek usability.

I suppose such a habit of mind is a luxury that users cannot afford.

- Michael Spooner

Comment on "Who has the right to referee your submission?"

Fri, 15 May 2009 12:53:09 -0500

You just touched a good point and declared what I wanted to say as a member of this univercity.

- sesso

Comment on "Resubmitting an Article to another Journal"

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 13:46:01 -0500

You are right. There is no full disclosure across the board. As for me as an author, I would like to tell everything about the background of the paper as it will avoid any embarrassment later. If the editor happens to send it to the same referees, it won't come as a surprise to them or to me, etc.
I guess I have to choose a different word for that kind of safe disclosure.

- SURESH CANAGARAJAH

Comment on "Resubmitting an Article to another Journal"

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 22:42:06 -0500

I agree about trying to get something out of every review to strengthen a piece, though in a couple of instances I have been hard-pressed to do so...

I am curious about your phrase "full disclosure." What do you think it involves? And what kind of moral force are you putting behind your recommendation? Based on what principles or values? And what would be the disclosure responsibilities on the journal's or editor's side? And in your experience, how many journals or editors fulfill those? Specifically, how much of the truth do you think Rod Ellis is going to tell that writer? How much should he tell? Why or why not? And how do the obvious power disparities between journal/editor/reviewers and writers figure into this?

-- Brad

- Brad

Comment on "Resubmitting an Article to another Journal"

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 23:35:54 -0500

Good point, Brad. Something for editors to think about.

I am not saying that authors shouln't submit elsewhere, but that it may be a matter of full disclosure to say that it was sent elsewhere first. Of course, authors should be free to say that they don't agree with the suggestions of the previous set of reviewers. That would actually save them from questions from the present journal about what they did with the previous reviews.

I see your point about not having to revise if you don't agree with the previous reviwers' comments. However, I tend to believe any review is good and useful. I actually have problems getting people to read my work and give me feedback. So, if the previous journal gives me reviewer comments, I still like to see how I can strengthen the mss before I send it out again.

- SURESH CANAGARAJAH

Comment on "Resubmitting an Article to another Journal"

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 23:14:25 -0500

I wish more editors kept blogs like this one. Doubtless they are too busy, I don't know how you do it, Suresh. Anyway, I'm finally plucking up the courage to comment on one of these.

My comment here is that I would like to see more empathy for the writer. Why would he or she resubmit to a different journal without revising? The assumption seems to be that he or she is lazy or hoping to get lucky the second time around. And since he or she didn't revise, fair enough. That shows a lack of effort. I have never done that and would never do that.

But I can easily imagine deciding to resubmit to a different journal for other reasons--such as a lack of satisfaction with the quality or objectivity of the reviews, being instructed to revise in directions I had already decided not to go, etc. In such cases, I could never take your advice, "you must make sure that you do all the revisions suggested by the previous reviewers."

This posting seems to assume the impeccability of the original reviews? It's somewhat disheartening to think the circle of reviewers is so closed or clannish or monoperspectival as all that. (Is that a word?) If this were indeed the case, wouldn't it reinforce the tendency you have lamented in this very blog for writers to attempt getting published via various political and discourse moves and machinations, etc.?

I recall a recent experience involving an article I'd done that centered around a professional diary. My first choice journal (I still stand by my choice) sent it to a reviewer who had evidently never heard of this research method, and whose revision guidelines mainly consisted of telling me to scrap this qualitative approach. The other reviewer had entirely different comments; the co-editors offered no guidance. I am sure it was not a perfect article, but I thought it was good enough to submit, so I faced a choice. Jump through the reviewer's hoops for the sake of a publication? Or revise as I could and try somewhere else? I chose the second option, got much better reviews the second time, was consequently able to do a much better revision, and I'm pleased to say the piece is now forthcoming. But what if it had gone to the same reviewers as the first time? It would have died an untimely death due to fundamentally unreconcilable views on how-what-why the article should be doing...though the reviewers and editors would no doubt= see this as an issue of academic quality rather than as a philosophical conflict.

All I am saying is, the original reviewer(s) might be just as fallible as the writer himself or herself, or an editor, for that matter, unthinkable as that may be. :-) And from that starting point, it's difficult to see following your advice in every case. I remain open, however, to any further remarks you might have on this matter.

-- Brad

- Brad

Comment on "Rejected Authors Fight Back!"

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 19:41:30 -0500

I found a fascinating article by Ayo Bamgbose published in the World Englishes journal (1998, Vol.17, No.1) titled "Torn between the norms: innovations in world Englishes". Here's what Bamgbose has to say,

"Today...we know that intelligibility is a complex matter, that a native speaker is not necessarily the infallible judge of what is intelligible nor is he or she even necessarily more intelligible than a non-native speaker, and that what is called 'intelligibility' is perhaps a complex of factors comprising recognizing an expression, knowing its meaning, and knowing what that meaning signifies in the sociocultural context." (p.11)

This seems to address so nicely the question that the was raised by the American teacher of English ["If a non-native speaker of English cannot make himself understood by a native speaker (who has had a lifetime of experience listening to and understanding English) then how can he make himself understood by a non-native speaker from another culture?"]

- Rashi

Comment on "Rejected Authors Fight Back!"

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 13:28:34 -0500

Thanks for bringing out some of the ironies in that message, Rashi. Certainly, there are many more inconsistencies in that author's message.

- SURESH CANAGARAJAH

Comment on "Rejected Authors Fight Back!"

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 11:44:41 -0500

I sense your anger in writing this blog entry, and can understand it too, but from the convenience of my being an observer to the episode in your blog, I found myself grinning.
It's funny when I read things like
"If a non-native speaker of English cannot make himself understood by a native speaker (who has had a lifetime of experience listening to and understanding English) then how can he make himself understood by a non-native speaker from another culture"
Was that gentleman serious? 'hard to believe that despite having lived in a foreign country for many years his blinkers are still so firmly in place.

For two years I worked as a front-desk graduate assistant in the Business School Undergrad Studies office. Although the bulk of questions came from undergrad American kids and their parents, every once in a while, someone who was simply looking for direction to some place in the building would wander into our conveniently and prominently located office. One day, a gentleman (from an African country, I'm guessing) walked in with a question. Usually, the undergrads helping out in the office would take queries, and I would step in only if there wasn't anyone else around, or we were short-staffed, or there was a question that the undergrad couldn't handle. Well, the African gentleman asked a question, and I saw that the undergrad was having difficulties, so I walked over, introduced myself, and listened to the question, answered it, and bid a friendly 'you're welcome' in answer to his smiling 'thank you'. The gentleman left, and I turned and saw this undergrad with eyes wide open, "I couldn't understand a word of what he said!" I laughed (thank god for a whacky sense of humor) and said that the conversation had taken place in English, but I had an easier time understanding the man because I've had more opportunity to hear different kinds of 'pronunciations'.
Another time, someone called from India about a question about the business school programs, and after a moment of listening to the caller, the undergrad student worker promptly handed over the phone receiver to me. I was happy to oblige. It was nice to have a conversation with someone from home :)
These weren't isolated cases. I often found myself helping out with situations were the 'native English speakers' who had grown up listening to only one kind of English most of their lives were unable to understand other kinds of Englishes.

So much so for 'non-native' speakers of English not being able to make themselves understood to other non-native English speakers; and for people of 'lifetime of experience listening to and understanding English' being able to understand the Englishes that there are!

- Rashi

Comment on "The Question of TQ’s low impact factor"

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 11:49:52 -0500

I believe that one should not exagerate the real importance of impact factor. Of course, there is a crucial sense in which that is important for commercialization and product differentation. But that is not the concern here. I think we should not lose sight of 'negative citation', a fact which is not taken into account in calculating the impact factor. Therefore, if the impact factor is to have real scholarly value, its strictly quantitative methodologies have to be enhanced by the use of qualitative analysis.

- Ahmed Kabel

Comment on "The Question of TQ’s low impact factor"

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 23:49:46 -0500

Thanks for your comments, Clyde. Maybe I have to take another look at these practices. I was only wondering if doing things specifically to boost the impact factor might be unethical. Of course, many of our referees bring to the attention of our authors important articles that have appeared in previous issues of TQ. That, I think, is appropriate. I wasn't sure how far we should go in asking authors to cite our own articles.

- SURESH CANAGARAJAH

Comment on "The Question of TQ’s low impact factor"

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 18:58:39 -0500

TESOL Journal filled this gap very well. TQ cannot, and should not, lose the position it has built up. I suspect there is another reason for the impact factor, and it is related to the requests you mentioned. There just is not much quantity or quality research going on in this segment. Teachers tend to be practice oriented, questioning the value of research. At work, the TQ audience is often over worked, with all too little time or support for research. In the end, this means there just is not much chance to cite TQ articles.

Suresh, I do not see why you feel some of the common practices of other editors is unethical. Requesting authors to try to increase their coverage of TQ makes perfect sense. Authors are often busy with numerous manuscripts, sending them here and there, and when a successful match does occur, taking another look at the writing, the research, and contextualizing further into the TQ stream of work seems justified. In the end, everyone benefits from a TQ with a higher impact factor, and those working hard, like yourself and your team, bring real and measurable results for the whole community.

Clyde

- Clyde Warden

Comment on "An idealistic attempt at reforming academic publishing practices?"

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 18:56:31 -0500

Thanks for the information, Amir. I have heard of the publication, but haven't found the time to read it. Perhaps you can share with us some of the highlights of the book. Thanks.

- SURESH CANAGARAJAH

Comment on "An idealistic attempt at reforming academic publishing practices?"

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 22:07:47 -0500

Hi Suresh,

Have you heard of/read the most recent volume (20) of AILA Review on the role of English as the language of scientific communication?

"Linguistic inequality in scientific communication today:
What can future applied linguistics do to mitigate disadvantages for non-anglophones?"

http://www.benjamins.com/cgi-bin/t_bookview.cgi?bookid=AILA%2020

Cheers,
Amir

- Amir H. Soheili-Mehr