Academic Skills Competence and Challenges in International Academic Publishing: Perspectives from Faculty Members in Non-English-Speaking Higher Education
Keywords:
Research skills; academic publishing; faculty development; linguistic barriers; non-native English-speaking scholars; institutional support; higher education in Saudi ArabiaAbstract
This study explores the challenges encountered by faculty members at a non-English-speaking higher education institution in Saudi Arabia in their pursuit of international academic publishing. Using a qualitative phenomenographic approach, the study examines the lived experiences of twenty academics from diverse disciplines at the University of Bisha. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed thematically to identify key barriers and competencies influencing publication outcomes. Three major themes emerged: perceived research and writing competencies, institutional and linguistic barriers, and proposed strategies for improvement. Participants reported challenges including limited academic writing support, a lack of sustained mentorship, restricted access to international publishing platforms, and feelings of marginalization due to language expectations and cultural norms embedded in peer review systems. Despite these obstacles, many faculty members exhibited resilience and a strong motivation to meet international publishing standards. The study found that linguistic barriers were often amplified by structural inequities, such as the absence of writing centers, inadequate research funding, and unclear institutional policies regarding publication incentives. Based on these findings, the study proposes evidence-based strategies such as English for Research Publication Purposes (ERPP) programs, peer-review training, and institutional support mechanisms that are aligned with Vision 2030’s goals for research excellence. The study contributes to current literature by centering the voices of scholars from peripheral academic contexts and by presenting a conceptual framework that links faculty competencies with institutional interventions. These insights offer a practical foundation for reform efforts aimed at empowering non-native English-speaking scholars in global academic dissemination.
https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.24.8.8
References
Alasbali, A., Baharum, H., & Zin, Z. (2023). Challenges of English academic writing among Saudi higher education students. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 13(9), 1989-2004. http://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v13-i9/18648
Alharbi, M. A., & Albelihi, H. H. (2023). Transforming writing education: WAC faculty experiences and challenges in Saudi universities. Asian-Pacific Journal of Second and Foreign Language Education, 8(1), 28. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40862-023-00199-0
Alhefzi, A. A., Alsaleem, S. A., Al Humayed, R. S., Al Khathami, M. A. M., Ali Alwalan, A. A., Saaed Al Mufarrih, W. S., Mohammed Alqarni, M. A., Khalawy Mokali, B. M., & Maghram Assiri, B. M. (2021). Challenges and difficulties in research facing by Saudi board postgraduate residents in Aseer region. Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, 10(3), 1485–1488. http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_1721_20
AlMarwani, M. (2020). Academic writing: Challenges and potential solutions. Arab World English Journal (AWEJ) Special Issue on CALL, (6). http://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/call6.8
Almulla, O. M. (2024). Academic resilience and its relationships with academic achievement among students of King Faisal University in Saudi Arabia. RGSA: Revista de Gestão Social e Ambiental. http://dx.doi.org/10.24857/rgsa.v18n9-134
Alzahrani, J. A. (2011a). Overcoming barriers to improve research productivity in Saudi Arabia. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 2(19).
Alzahrani, J. A. H. (2011b). Perceived barriers to research publishing in Saudi Arabia and the potential for electronic publishing. International Journal of Social Sciences and Education, 1(1), 235–237.
Canagarajah, S. (2015). Clarifying the relationship between translingual practice and L2 writing addressing learner identities. Applied Linguistics Review, 6(4), 415-440. https://doi.org/10.1515/applirev-2015-0020
Cassidy, S. (2015). Resilience building in students: The role of academic self-efficacy. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1781. http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01781
Corcoran, J. N., & Englander, K. (2016). A proposal for critical-pragmatic pedagogical approaches to English for research publication purposes. Publications, 4(1), 1-10. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/publications4010006
Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2017). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approach. Sage publications.
Curry, M. J., & Lillis, T. (2024). Multilingualism in academic writing for publication: Putting English in its place. Language Teaching, 57(1), 87-100. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444822000040
Elgamri, A., Mohammed, Z., El-Rhazi, K., Shahrouri, M., Ahram, M., Al-Abbas, A. M., & Silverman, H. (2023). Challenges facing Arab researchers in publishing scientific research: A qualitative interview study. Research Square, rs-3. http://dx.doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3129329/v1
Englander, K. (2009). Transformation of the identities of non-native English-speaking scientists as a consequence of the social construction of revision. Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 8(1), 35-53. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1080/15348450802619979
Englander, K., Corcoran, J.N. (2021). Power, identity, and academic literacy: Englander, K., & Corcoran, J. N. (2021). Power, identity, and academic literacy: A coda. In L. M. Muresan & C. Orna-Montesinos (Eds.), Academic Literacy Development. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62877-2_17
Englander, K., & López-Bonilla, G. (2011). Acknowledging or denying membership: Reviewers’ responses to non-anglophone scientists’ manuscripts. Discourse Studies, 13(4), 395-416. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1461445611403261
Ferguson, G., Pérez?Llantada, C., & Plo, R. (2011). English as an international language of scientific publication: A study of attitudes. World Englishes, 30(1), 41-59. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-971X.2010.01656.x
Flowerdew, J. (2008). Scholarly writers who use English as an additional language: What can Goffman’s “stigma” tell us? Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 7(2), 77-86. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2008.03.002
Flowerdew, J. (2022). Models of English for research publication purposes. World Englishes, 41(4), 571-583. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/weng.12606
Geiger, V., Delzoppo, C., & Straesser, R. (2022). Supporting English non-dominant language authors’ efforts to publish: Perspectives from the editors-in-chief of highly recognised journals in Mathematics Education. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 111(3), 543-565. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10649-022-10174-0
Habibie, P. (2022). Writing for scholarly publication in an interconnected disjunctured world. Journal of Second Language Writing, 58, 100933. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2022.100933
Habibie, P., & Hyland, K. (2019). Novice writers and scholarly publications. Palgrave, 10, 978-3. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95333-5
Hakami M. S. A. (2023). Barriers to conducting and publishing scientific research among nursing faculty members in Saudi Arabia. Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare, 16, 2733–2743. http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/JMDH.S429478
Halliday, M. A. K. (1985). An introduction to functional grammar. Arnold Publishers.
Hanauer, D. I., & Englander, K. (2011). Quantifying the burden of writing research articles in a second language: Data from Mexican scientists. Written Communication, 28(4), 403–416. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0741088311420056
Hyland, K. (2016). Academic publishing: Issues and challenges in the construction of knowledge. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hyland, K. (2019). Participation in publishing: the demoralizing discourse of disadvantage. Novice writers and scholarly publication: Authors, mentors, gatekeepers. In P. Habibie & K. Hyland (Eds.), Novice Writers and Scholarly Publication (pp. 13–33). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95333-5_2
Klarare, A., Rydeman, I. B., Kneck, Å., Bos Sparén, E., Winnberg, E., & Bisholt, B. (2022). Methods and strategies to promote academic literacies in health professions: A scoping review. BMC Medical Education, 22(1), 418. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-022-03288-9
Lea, M. R., & Street, B. V. (1998). Student writing in higher education: An academic literacies approach. Studies in Higher Education, 23(2), 157-172. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03075079812331380364
Lepp, H., & Smith, D. S. (2025). “You cannot sound like GPT”: Signs of language discrimination and resistance in computer science publishing. In Proceedings of the 2025 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (FAccT '25) (pp. 3162–3181). https://doi.org/10.1145/3715275.3732202
Li, D. (2022). A review of academic literacy research development: from 2002 to 2019. Asian-Pacific Journal of Second and Foreign Language Education, 7(1), 5. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40862-022-00130-z
Lillis, T., & Curry, M. J. (2006). Professional academic writing by multilingual scholars: Interactions with literacy brokers in the production of English-medium texts. Written Communication, 23(1), 3–35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0741088305283754
Lillis, T., & Curry, M. J. (2013). 10 English, scientific publishing and participation in the global knowledge economy. English and Development. Multilingual Matters, 220-42. http://dx.doi.org/10.21832/9781847699473-014
Marton, F. (2004). Phenomenography: A research approach to investigating different understandings of reality. In Qualitative Research in Education (pp. 141-161). Routledge.
Maxwell, J. A. (2013). Qualitative research design: An interactive approach. Sage.
Namey, E., Guest, G., Thairu, L., & Johnson, L. (2008). Data reduction techniques for large qualitative data sets. In G. Guest & K. M. MacQueen (Eds.), Handbook for Team-Based Qualitative Research (pp. 137–161). AltaMira Press.
National Science Board. (2021). Publications output U.S. trends and international comparisons (NSB-2021-4). In Science and Engineering Indicators 2022. National Science Foundation. https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsb20214/
Nature Human Behaviour. (2023, July 24). Scientific publishing has a language problem. Nature Human Behaviour, 7 (7), 1019–1020. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01679-6
Ondari-Okemwa, E. (2007). Scholarly publishing in sub-Saharan Africa in the twenty-first century: Challenges and opportunities. First Monday, 12(10). http://dx.doi.org/10.5210/fm.v12i10.1966
Sandelowski, M. (2001). Real qualitative researchers do not count: The use of numbers in qualitative research. Research in Nursing & Health, 24(3), 230–240. https://doi.org/10.1002/nur.1025
Schnell, B. (2024). Multilingual scholarly publishing: Exploring the perceptions, attitudes, and experiences of plurilingual scholars in foreign language publication. The Journal of Electronic Publishing, 27(1). https://doi.org/10.3998/jep.5416
Stanford Institute for Human Centered AI. (2025, June 16). How language bias persists in scientific publishing despite AI tools. Stanford HAI. https://hai.stanford.edu/news/how-language-bias-persists-in-scientific-publishing-despite-ai-tools
Williams, S. R., & Leatham, K. R. (2017). Journal quality in mathematics education. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 48(4), 369-396. http://dx.doi.org/10.5951/jresematheduc.48.4.0369
Xuan, W., Matthiessen, C. & Arús-Hita, J. (2025). Broadening the appliability of systemic functional linguistics. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 63(1), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1515/iral-2024-0286
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Jamlaa Almawi, Amer Mutrik Sayaf, Hesham Fazel
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
All articles published by IJLTER are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No-Derivatives 4.0 International License (CCBY-NC-ND4.0).
