“We need to publish in English: Brazilian reserarcher's voices regarding tensions in academic literacy practices

Abstract

Impact and visibility are important boosters for global scientific publishing in English regarding some possible tensions. We interviewed four Brazilian medical researchers from five well-ranked universities in Brazil through semi-structured interviews. We used linguistic ethnography theorizing as a methodology to analyze the social relations around texts, based on literacy studies. The aim of this article is to discuss Brazilian medical authors’ experienced tensions regarding publishing internationally and writing in English. Results showed that writing in English to publish internationally is a literacy practice embedded in power relationships and legitimation. We identified three main tensions: 1) a low number of Brazilian English speakers which results in poor access to written English skills; 2) handling relations of power shaping discourses and standards; and 3) issues tied to academic group support and academic literacy.