Seeking acceptance in an English-only research world

Many have noted the increasing concentration of gatekeeping power in the hands of mainstream English-only journals and made compelling cases for the need to bring more off-networked, multilingual voices into the global research conversation. Despite the hurdles that often face under-resourced off-network scholars, a number of them do find their way into the pages of mainstream Anglophone journals. How do some off-network scholars manage to successfully negotiate the mainstream journal gatekeeping that keeps others, both off-networked and networked, outside the gates, and what roles do journal manuscript (ms.) reviewers play in this negotiation? A sample of submission history documents for accepted and rejected manuscripts submitted to an applied linguistics journal was compiled and analyzed in an effort to shed light on these questions. Findings suggest that, among other things, authorial persistence, that is, willingness to continue revising and resubmitting when faced with extensive critical commentary from reviewers, can result in publication. Implications, especially for journal gatekeepers and those who support or are themselves off-network academic authors seeking acceptance in an English-only research world, are discussed.