Understanding Chinese Multilingual Scholars' Experiences of Publishing Research in English

Despite sporadic reports on the publishing experiences in English of Chinese academics in Hong Kong and in mainland China (mainly doctoral students), little research has been conducted on a large scale to reveal how mainland Chinese academics perceive international publishing in English and what challenges they face. This study intends to fill this research gap. The findings we report come from a large-scale research project involving an online survey of 118 academics at eighteen universities in Shanghai, China. By analysing participant responses to the survey and interviews with eight academics, we show how the motivations of these academics contribute to their language choice for academic publishing. We discuss the implications of these findings for the wider academic community with regard to writing and publishing research articles in English as an international language.