At 14:00 on April 18th, 2018, Professor Diane Dewhurst Belcher, at the invitation of the School of Foreign Languages of Shenzhen University, delivered a fascinating academic lecture on Global Perspectives on Academic Publishing in Room H5-305 of Wenke Building. Besides being the Dean of the College of Applied Linguistics of Georgia State University, she is also a world-renowned scholar and leading expert in the field of applied linguistics.
First, Professor Belcher introduced a number of obstacles to the publication of academic papers by scholars from non-native English-speaking countries. Based on her research on the successful authors all around the world who have published papers in international journals many times, she discussed several factors that hinder the publication of academic papers and also several elements that benefit it from the perspective of the authors of academic papers. In her research, she pointed out that for scholars, the difference in the choice of publishing at home or abroad mainly results from the difference in language and culture. For the scholars from some countries, for instance, their academic writing in native language (non-English) differs greatly from the ones in English in terms of writing style. Through the comparison of the publication of academic papers at home and abroad by scholars from all over the world, Professor Belcher made a further analysis on the reasons why the publication for certain scholars was limited to domestic publication, and simultaneously elucidated the reasons by employing the varied cases of scholars from other countries and regions, such as France, Spain, Korea, Mainland China, and Taiwan. Finally, some limitations and influence of her research were expounded.
Then, Professor Belcher lectured on the second topic—How to Succeed in Publishing Academic Papers. After the clarification of three popular misconceptions respecting the publication of academic papers, she presented eight steps contributing to the successful publication. Following that, she made a detailed introduction of how to publish academic papers in international journals successfully from several respects, such as choosing websites, identifying topics, seeking help and support, and understanding the impact of journals and the average time required for publication. In addition, some websites useful for the publication of academic papers were shared. In the end, Professor Belcher gave us encouragement by the remark that despite various setbacks and obstacles in the process of publishing academic papers, one will become more adept at it after overcoming all those difficulties. The lecture was so wonderful that it was concluded with impassioned applause, and the students said that much had been gained from the lecture.
(2018/4/18 Yu Shenglan)
