An Exploration of the Sub-Register of Chemical Engineering Research Papers Published in English

Abstract

Abstract:The increased pressures for high-volume, high-impact publications in English language and the high rejection rates of submitted manuscripts for publications present an often unsurpassable obstacle for (early career) researchers. At the same time, register variation of peer-reviewed journals-that can contribute to whether a paper is accepted for publication-has received little attention. This paper redresses this gap, by investigating the register (especially discourse moves and lexical choices) in 60 published, original-research articles on wastewater treatment published in four Chemical Engineering journals, with impact factor (IF) above 2. Our survey shows that chemical engineering research publications tend to comply with a set of requirements: multidisciplinarity, brevity, co-authorship, focus on the description of practical results (rather than methods), and awareness of non-specialised audiences. Lexical choices were analysed through frequency tables, phrase nets and word trees produced by data visualisation software (ManyEyes). It was found that less discipline-specific vocabulary is used in higher IF journals and this is interpreted within the current context of manuscript publication and consumption. This study concludes that data visualisation can provide an efficient and effective tool for prospective authors that wish to gauge telling details of the sub-register of a specific journal.Keywords: chemical engineering; journal publications; lexical choices; word tree; phrase net; impact factor IntroductionChemical engineering science is a versatile, multifaceted field integrating physics, mathematics, biology and chemistry. Chemical engineers are employed both in the academic world and in a range of industries, from pharmaceutical and cosmetics fabrications, to hydrocarbons, food production and processing, and environmental pollution. In academia, in particular, the research activity occurring has factual outputs (such as communications of various character and nature) that are quantifiable; for instance, patents, presentations databases, protocols and publications [1]. Researchers, often non-native speakers, are expected to gather and produce information, process and evaluate it, and communicate it in a concise form [2,3]. The prevailing form of communication-and documentation-of research is scientific journal publication, and publishing in co-authorising teams is now the dominant modus operandi [1,4]. Researchers and scientists are under constant pressure to publish their results [5], as this would enhance their employment prospects and career development, their funding and consultancy prospects and their professional reputation [6,7]. Chemical engineering researchers are further challenged by the multifaceted nature of their discipline, since they are called to communicate their findings to a wider audience of fellow scientists, both during a manuscript's writing process and Although the acceptance of a manuscript for publication is an achievement, only high-quality publications in high-ranki...