ABSTRACT
Chapter 2, The background to ERPP, maps out the growing pressure to publish that scholars are facing, commonly referred to as publish or perish, and the exponential rise in international English-medium academic journals and the number of international scholars seeking to publish in those journals. The scene is set by unpacking the global socio-political and socio-economic factors that have contributed to the current situation. Key systems are dealt with such as globalisation and neoliberalism and how they have resulted in the expansion and internationalisation of higher education and the importance and implications of those concepts for ERPP. Massification of higher education and marketisation of universities are also topics discussed in this chapter. The discussion elaborates on how such phenomena shape the globalisation of scholarship and consequently scholarly publication in English-medium academic journals. Finally, given that EAL scholars are in the majority worldwide, the chapter discusses how scholarly publication in English linguistically disadvantages such scholars and poses challenges to their visibility and participation in global scholarship.
