The place of Eastern European researchers in international discourse: Critical discourse analysis applied to corpora from specialized journals

Abstract

The present study explores relations of domination in publishing research papers. It assesses the production of articles by authors from the former communist bloc, called here symbolically ‘the East’, against influences from ‘the West’. Knowing that in the past the research scene differed significantly in the two parts of the world, we ask how researchers from the former Eastern bloc fare nowadays on the international scene: do they publish research which brings its own specific contribution; do they differ from their Western colleagues in terms of methodology, in the authorities they quote etc.? We also engage in an analysis of the circumstances of those who contribute to journals to establish factors which stimulate publications. The conclusions concern the place of Eastern European researchers in international linguistics discourse and the sociolinguistic factors shaping the situation.