Moving from regional to international publishing in accounting history: Pressures, issues, strategies and implications

Abstract

As an extension of the Panel session held at the seventh Accounting History International Conference (7AHIC) in Seville in September 2013, the pressures, issues, strategies and implications of the movement from regional to international in terms of publishing in accounting history are presented. These dimensions are analysed from the point of view of four European countries: France, Italy, Portugal and Spain. Although these four countries have languages well disseminated around the globe, and/or possess a long history and tradition of discoveries and were strong players in commercial trade for centuries, academic publishing internationally is dominated by Anglo-Saxon countries and journals. Therefore, English is the main language and different challenges and hindrances are faced by researchers whose native language is other than English. More than arguing for a radical move from the regional to the international, a call is made for a more cooperative environment within international accounting history research which takes into account the cultural differences and embraces those differences.

Accounting historians engaging with scholars inside and outside accounting: Issues, opportunities and obstacles

“…In this context, developing the skills required to engage in interdisciplinary projects is a challenge and the role of doctoral colloquia and conferences and workshops organised for accounting and accounting history researchers is critical (Gomes et al, 2015).…”

“…As pointed out by Walker (2005: 236), interdisciplinarity "has the potential to challenge the 'AngloSaxon' hegemony". In spite of the progress in the last few years, much more work is needed in this regard (Gomes et al, 2015;Walker, 2008). There is a final point to make about data, more specifically archival sources: studies in mainstream accounting research use historical data, don't they?…”

“…Issues of research engagement and impact are becoming increasing concerns of various national governments seeking to extract more immediate economic and social benefits from universities' research efforts and outputs (ARC, 2016). An additional challenge is posed for researchers whose native language is other than English (Baños and Gutiérrez, 2011;Bisman, 2012;Gomes et al, 2015).…”

“…For each of these kinds of interactions, we consider that even if the 'New' accounting history (Miller et al, 1991;Napier, 2001) takes a fast-growing role in the international debate in highly ranked journals, 'Traditional' accounting history and its related research methods and output are still dominant in many different domestic contexts, and within journals in different "own country" languages (Gomes, 2008;Gomes et al, 2015). So it may be interesting to verify "how" and "why" the interaction of 'Traditional' accounting historians with other scholars may be successful also for them.…”

“…However, as suggested by Gomes et al (2011;see also Gomes et al, 2015), a practical strategy for enhancing the impact of accounting history research is to foster the engagement with diverse groups of scholars, both accounting researchers and scholars from other disciplines. In fact, "in order to assist in broadening perspectives on accounting's past, accounting historians must resist the temptation to retreat within the comfort zone of the historians' ghetto in which they can promulgate and digest historical research amongst the welcoming cohort of their own research peers" (Gomes et al, 2011: 393;see also, Guthrie and Parker, 2006).…”