Navigating a national linguistics journal through local interests and global pressures: an editorial view on the problem of academic overproduction [Slovo a slovesnost]
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Petr Kaderka
and
Tamah Sherman
Abstract
This contribution responds to Wolfgang Klein’s text “Schreiben oder Lesen, aber nicht beides, oder: Vorschlag zur Wiedereinführung der Keilschrift mittels Hammer und Meißel” (Zeitschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Linguistik 74, 1989, 116–119) from the perspective of long-term editors of a traditional national linguistics journal, Slovo a slovesnost (Czech Republic). After providing a historical context for the journal’s contemporary position, we examine the issues that currently require the greatest degree of adaptation on our part. These include the politics of textual genres in light of the need to enhance transparency of research practice, the ongoing struggle to both maintain and improve the quality of peer review, and the gatekeeping role of the academic journal. We conclude by stating that while Klein’s original premise that something must be done about the problem of overproduction is well-intentioned, the excessive growth in the number of published texts is basically unavoidable, and that we can only combat its detrimental effects by clearly establishing and enacting our priorities (including the support for national languages) as authors, readers and editors.
Funding source: Czech Language Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences
Award Identifier / Grant number: RVO No. 68378092
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Research funding: The preparation of this article was financed within the long-term development program of the Czech Language Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences (RVO No. 68378092).
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© 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Reading: An anniversary conversation with journal editors
- Article
- Schreiben oder Lesen, aber nicht beides, oder: Vorschlag zur Wiedereinführung der Keilschrift mittels Hammer und Meißel
- Commentaries
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- Toward un-WEIRDing academic publishing about language [Applied Linguistics]
- Recognising the human in humanities [Australian Review of Applied Linguistics]
- 文字简化、学术产出与技术进化—来自中国的经验 [Chinese Journal of Language Policy and Planning]
- Meine kleine Lesemaschine: Reflexion zur Begrenzung der Produktion von wissenschaftlichen Texten [International Journal of Multilingualism]
- The politics of writing and reading: An Arabic sociolinguistics perspective [Journal of Arabic Sociolinguistics]
- To read is to cite: A moral proposition [Journal of Linguistic Anthropology]
- Sociolinguistics towards a culturalist turn: a sociolinguistic response to the challenges of mankind [Journal of Multicultural Discourses]
- Wolfgang Klein as Don Quixote [Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development]
- An extended lunch break: a response to Wolfgang Klein [Journal of Pragmatics]
- The economic reterritorialization of academic publishing and the politics of reading [Journal of Sociolinguistics]
- How I learned to stop worrying and love the explosion of information [Journal of Southeast Asian Linguistics Society]
- Writing and publishing language studies in the Arab region [Khitabaat Journal]
- Accouchons des idées, pas des articles: politiser la proposition de Wolfgang Klein pour repenser le travail scientifique [Langage et Société]
- Reading or writing is not the question: politicizing the politics of scholarly production and reception [Language, Culture and Society]
- Writing to be read, or how to achieve more through less [Language Matters]
- Writing or reading? An incommensurable choice? [Language in Society]
- Can we escape the textocalypse? Academic publishing as community building [Language on the Move]
- Acceleration, capitalist temporalities and collective challenges in academic publishing [Language Policy]
- On close reading and slow writing [Multilingua]
- Where global discourses meet local realities: the case of scholarly publishing in Sinhala [Sāhityaya]
- Navigating a national linguistics journal through local interests and global pressures: an editorial view on the problem of academic overproduction [Slovo a slovesnost]
- What is the place of African languages in knowledge production? [South African Journal of African Languages]
- Publishing issues and overwhelm [Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies]
- Strengthening local academic publishing in the age of academic fast fashion [TILAMSIK]
- Dromm und die verlorene Balance [The Mouth: Critical Studies on Language, Culture and Society]
- Meritocracy, governmental intervention, and academic nepotism: a South Korean academic publishing landscape [The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea]
- Indagando a aceleração da produção acadêmica com bom humor: Uma visão do sul [Trabalhos em Linguística Aplicada]
- Final Commentary
- How to amend the supply-demand imbalance in research?
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Reading: An anniversary conversation with journal editors
- Article
- Schreiben oder Lesen, aber nicht beides, oder: Vorschlag zur Wiedereinführung der Keilschrift mittels Hammer und Meißel
- Commentaries
- Sobre el acceso a la bibliografía académica desde el Sur: diagnóstico, estrategias de resistencia y un proyecto disruptivo concreto [Anuario de Glotopolítica]
- Toward un-WEIRDing academic publishing about language [Applied Linguistics]
- Recognising the human in humanities [Australian Review of Applied Linguistics]
- 文字简化、学术产出与技术进化—来自中国的经验 [Chinese Journal of Language Policy and Planning]
- Meine kleine Lesemaschine: Reflexion zur Begrenzung der Produktion von wissenschaftlichen Texten [International Journal of Multilingualism]
- The politics of writing and reading: An Arabic sociolinguistics perspective [Journal of Arabic Sociolinguistics]
- To read is to cite: A moral proposition [Journal of Linguistic Anthropology]
- Sociolinguistics towards a culturalist turn: a sociolinguistic response to the challenges of mankind [Journal of Multicultural Discourses]
- Wolfgang Klein as Don Quixote [Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development]
- An extended lunch break: a response to Wolfgang Klein [Journal of Pragmatics]
- The economic reterritorialization of academic publishing and the politics of reading [Journal of Sociolinguistics]
- How I learned to stop worrying and love the explosion of information [Journal of Southeast Asian Linguistics Society]
- Writing and publishing language studies in the Arab region [Khitabaat Journal]
- Accouchons des idées, pas des articles: politiser la proposition de Wolfgang Klein pour repenser le travail scientifique [Langage et Société]
- Reading or writing is not the question: politicizing the politics of scholarly production and reception [Language, Culture and Society]
- Writing to be read, or how to achieve more through less [Language Matters]
- Writing or reading? An incommensurable choice? [Language in Society]
- Can we escape the textocalypse? Academic publishing as community building [Language on the Move]
- Acceleration, capitalist temporalities and collective challenges in academic publishing [Language Policy]
- On close reading and slow writing [Multilingua]
- Where global discourses meet local realities: the case of scholarly publishing in Sinhala [Sāhityaya]
- Navigating a national linguistics journal through local interests and global pressures: an editorial view on the problem of academic overproduction [Slovo a slovesnost]
- What is the place of African languages in knowledge production? [South African Journal of African Languages]
- Publishing issues and overwhelm [Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies]
- Strengthening local academic publishing in the age of academic fast fashion [TILAMSIK]
- Dromm und die verlorene Balance [The Mouth: Critical Studies on Language, Culture and Society]
- Meritocracy, governmental intervention, and academic nepotism: a South Korean academic publishing landscape [The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea]
- Indagando a aceleração da produção acadêmica com bom humor: Uma visão do sul [Trabalhos em Linguística Aplicada]
- Final Commentary
- How to amend the supply-demand imbalance in research?
