INSIGHTS INTO INTERNATIONAL PUBLICATION: A SYNTHESIS OF MOVE-BASED LITERATURE ON THE RESEARCH ARTICLE GENRE

Abstract

Ever since Swales’ (1981/1990) work on the research article (RA), this genre has been subject to copious investigation in the past three decades. This attraction is due to both its highly valued status as a means of disseminating academic knowledge and the high pressure on part of the university staff and PhD students to have publications in international journals in many countries where English is not a native language. This paper reviews the literature on genre/move-based investigations into writing for international publication. The three areas of focus are the rhetorical structures, the linguistics features, and the cross-cultural comparisons of these two aspects. The synthesis provides a detailed account of both consistencies and inconsistencies to the conventional structures, as well as of the similarities and differences in the linguistic realizations, across various disciplines and cultures.