Perceived Challenges to Anglophone Publication at Three Universities in Chile

Abstract

It is well documented that non-Anglophone scholars face enormous pressures to publish in peer-reviewed English-medium journals both for their own advancement and for institutional prestige. Yet many of them receive little support and face big challenges. Scholars’ perceptions of these challenges often differ from those of applied linguists. This study analyzes publication challenges at three universities in Chile. Research questions included the following: How much pressure to publish do Chilean scholars feel? What do they perceive as their biggest challenges? Do these differ from perceptions of applied linguists? Data come from surveys involving 191 respondents conducted shortly after the author was an English Language Specialist for the U.S. Department of State in 2015. Surveys were administered both as personal interviews and online through SurveyMonkey. Identified challenges include language issues, workload, feedback and networking, and rhetorical structure. Suggestions are given for mitigating these challenges and for further research on these issues.