Academic Vocabulary Distribution in Applied Linguistics Journal Research Articles: Do SINTA Rankings Matter?
Abstract
Background: As a national database for indexing scientific journals, SINTA has considerable significance for the Indonesian academic community as it measures the performance of national journals and increases the visibility of Indonesian journals and researchers internationally. Although studies have been conducted to examine the role of academic vocabulary in scholarly publications, very little has investigated how academic vocabulary has been used in SINTA-indexed applied linguistics journals (SIALJ) research articles and whether there are differences in academic vocabulary coverage across SINTA rankings.
Purpose: This study examines the academic vocabulary measure of whether significant differences in academic vocabulary coverage are present in SIALJ research articles across rankings. This examination will offer insights into the linguistic expectations set by the editorial boards of the journals across rankings.
Method: Out of 8585 journals indexed by SINTA, we found 72 related to applied linguistics. We chose four journals with the highest impact factor in each ranking to ensure representativeness. We included approximately 250000 running words from each journal in each ranking and obtained 6073379 tokens in total. We used AntWordProfiler to analyse the lexical distribution with GSL and AWL as the base lists.
Results: We found that the academic vocabulary coverage in SIALJ research articles accounts for 11.01%, similar to other studies that also found that academic words typically cover at least 10% of academic texts. We also identified that the higher the journal rank, the more coverage of the academic vocabulary. However, our quantitative measurement identified no significant differences in academic vocabulary coverage in SIALJ research articles.
Conclusion: The absence of significant distribution disparities across rankings suggests a shared practice of strategies language use in SIALJ, irrespective of their rankings and challenges common assumptions about strategic language use discrepancies among journal clusters.
Downloads
References
Aldawsari, H. (2017). The challenges of learning academic vocabulary among postgraduate Saudi students at New Zealand universities. Auckland University of Technology.
Arenas-Castro, H., Berdejo-Espinola, V., Chowdhury, S., Rodríguez-Contreras, A., James, Raja, N. B., Dunne, E. M., Bertolino, S., Nayara Braga Emidio, Derez, C. M., Drobniak, S. M., Fulton, G. R., L. Francisco Henao-Diaz, Kaur, A., Catherine, Malgorzata Lagisz, Medina, I., Mikula, P., Narayan, V. P., & O’Bryan, C. J. (2024). Academic publishing requires linguistically inclusive policies. Proceedings - Royal Society. Biological Sciences/Proceedings - Royal Society. Biological Sciences, 291(2018). https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2023.2840
Arianto, M. A., & Basthomi, Y. (2021). The authors’ research gap strategies in ELT research article introductions: Does Scopus journal quartile matter? Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 17(4), 1743–1759. https://doi.org/10.52462/jlls.127
Asaad, H. Q. M. (2024). The role of morphological awareness in L2 postgraduates’ academic writing: Is vocabulary knowledge a mediating variable? Cogent Education, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2024.2327787
Awagu, I. V. (2021). Language in academic writing: Features and topical issues. Linguistics and Literature Studies, 9(2), 49–56. https://doi.org/10.13189/LLS.2021.090201
Biber, D., & Gray, B. (2016). Grammatical complexity in academic English: Linguistic change in writing. Cambridge University Press.
Black, N., Van Rooyen, S., Godlee, F., Smith, R., & Evans, S. (1998). What makes a good reviewer and a good review for a general medical journal? JAMA, 280(3), 231–233. https://doi.org/10.1001/JAMA.280.3.231
Breeze, R. (2008). Researching simplicity and sophistication in student writing. International Journal of English Studies, 8(1), 51–66.
Brun-Mercer, N., & Zimmerman, C. B. (2015). Fostering academic vocabulary use in writing. The CATESOL Journal, 27(1), 131–148.
Castillo-Vergara, M., Alvarez-Marin, A., & Placencio-Hidalgo, D. (2018). A bibliometric analysis of creativity in the field of business economics. Journal of Business Research, 85, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JBUSRES.2017.12.011
Chanasattru, S., & Tangkiengsirisin, S. (2017). Thw word list distribution in social science research articles. Arab World English Journal (AWEJ), 8(4), 412–429. https://doi.org/https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol8no4.28
Chen, Q., & Ge, G. chun. (2007). A corpus-based lexical study on frequency and distribution of Coxhead’s AWL word families in medical research articles (RAs). English for Specific Purposes, 26(4), 502–514. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ESP.2007.04.003
Choo, L. B., Lin, D. T. A., Singh, M. K. M., & Ganapathy, M. (2017). The significance of the academic word list among esl tertiary students in a malaysian public university. 3L: The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies, 23(4), 56–65. https://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2017-2304-05
Coxhead, A. (2000). A new academic word list. TESOL Quarterly, 34(2), 213–238.
Coxhead, A. (2012). Academic vocabulary, writing and English for academic purposes: Perspectives from second language learners. RELC Journal, 43(1), 137–145. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033688212439323
Csomay, E., & Prades, A. (2018). Academic vocabulary in ESL student papers: A corpus-based study. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 33, 100–118. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JEAP.2018.02.003
Demir, C. (2019). The needless complexity in academic writing: Simplicity vs. flowery language. The Reading Matrix: An International Online Journal, 19(2).
Donthu, N., Kumar, S., & Pattnaik, D. (2020). Forty-five years of Journal of Business Research: A bibliometric analysis. Journal of Business Research, 109, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JBUSRES.2019.10.039
El-Omar, E. M. (2014). How to publish a scientific manuscript in a high-impact journal. Advances in Digestive Medicine, 1(4), 105–109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aidm.2014.07.004
Firmansyah, E. A., & Faisal, Y. A. (2019). Bibliometric analysis of islamic economics and finance journals in Indonesia. Al-Muzara’ah, 7(2), 17–26. https://doi.org/10.29244/JAM.7.2.17-26
Garner, R. M., Hirsch, J. A., Albuquerque, F. C., & Fargen, K. M. (2018). Bibliometric indices: defining academic productivity and citation rates of researchers, departments and journals. Journal of Neurointerventional Surgery, 10(2), 102–106. https://doi.org/10.1136/NEURINTSURG-2017-013265
Gureyev, V. N., & Mazov, N. A. (2022). Bibliometrics as a promising tool for solving publication ethics issues. Heliyon, 8(3), e09123. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.HELIYON.2022.E09123
Hinkel, E. (2003). Simplicity without elegance: Features of sentences in l1 and l2 academic texts. TESOL Quarterly, 37(2), 275–301. https://doi.org/10.2307/3588505
Hyland, K. (2002). Options of identity in academic writing. ELT Journal, 56(4), 351–358. https://doi.org/10.1093/ELT/56.4.351
Hyland, K. (2004). Disciplinary discourses: Social interactions in academic writing. The University of Michigan Press.
Hyland, K. (2009). Academic discourse: English in a global context. Continuum.
Hyland, K. (2013). Writing in the university: education, knowledge and reputation. Language Teaching, 46(1), 53–70. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444811000036
Hyland, K., & Tse, P. (2004). Metadiscourse in academic writing: A reappraisal. Applied Linguistics, 25(2), 156–177. https://doi.org/10.1093/APPLIN/25.2.156
Ibrahim, C., & Fadhli, R. (2021). Performance of Indonesia’s World-Class University efficiency with bibliometrics (scientific strength) approach and data envelopment analysis. Webology, 18(1), 32–50. https://doi.org/10.14704/WEB/V18I1/WEB18003
Kandi, V. (2016). Journal publications, indexing and academic excellence: Have we chosen the right path. American Journal of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, 4(3), 52–55.
Khani, R., & Tazik, K. (2013). Towards the development of an academic word list for applied linguistics research articles. RELC Journal, 44(2), 209–232. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033688213488432
Koushik, A. K. (2017). Indexing and impact factor: Judging the quality of a journal. Journal of Health & Medical Informatics, 8(4), 1000285. https://doi.org/10.4172/2157-7420.1000285
Kwary, D. A., & Artha, A. F. (2017). The academic article word list for social sciences. MEXTESOL Journal, 41(4), 1–11.
Liu, J., & Han, L. (2015). A corpus-based environmental academic word list building and its validity test. English for Specific Purposes, 39, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ESP.2015.03.001
Martínez, I. A., Beck, S. C., & Panza, C. B. (2009). Academic vocabulary in agriculture research articles: A corpus-based study. English for Specific Purposes, 28(3), 183–198. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ESP.2009.04.003
Masrai, A., Milton, J., El-Dakhs, D. A. S., & Elmenshawy, H. (2021). Measuring the contribution of specialist vocabulary knowledge to academic achievement: disentangling effects of multiple types of word knowledge. Asian-Pacific Journal of Second and Foreign Language Education, 6(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1186/S40862-021-00114-5/FIGURES/3
Matinparsa, H., Xodabande, I., Ghafouri, M., & Atai, M. (2022). Academic vocabulary in applied linguistics research articles: A corpus-based replication study. Research Square. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2092705/v1
Mozaffari, A., & Moini, R. (2014). Academic words in education research articles: A corpus study . Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 98, 1290–1296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.03.545
Muñoz, V. L. (2015). The vocabulary of agriculture semi-popularization articles in English: A corpus-based study. English for Specific Purposes, 39, 26–44. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ESP.2015.04.001
Muslimin, A. I., & Basthomi, Y. (2022). Bibliometric analysis on an Indonesia english education department academic staffs’ productivities and its potential for national accreditation stance. Journal of Scientometric Research, 11(2), 254–261. https://doi.org/10.5530/JSCIRES.11.2.27
Nandiyanto, A. B. D., Biddinika, M. K., & Triawan, F. (2020). How bibliographic dataset portrays decreasing number of scientific publication from Indonesia. Indonesian Journal of Science and Technology, 5(1), 154–175. https://doi.org/10.17509/IJOST.V5I1.22265
Nation, I. S. P. (2001). How good is your Vocabulary program. ESL Magazine, 4(3), 22–24.
Özer, M., & Akbaş, E. (2024). Assembling a justified list of academic words in veterinary medicine: The veterinary medicine academic word list (VMAWL). English for Specific Purposes, 74, 29–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ESP.2023.12.002
Pournia, Y. (2019). A study on the most frequent academic words in high impact factor English nursing journals: A corpus-based study. Iranian Journal of Nursing and Midwifery Research, 24(1), 11. https://doi.org/10.4103/IJNMR.IJNMR_190_17
Purnomo, B. C., Munahar, S., Pambuko, Z. B., & Nasrullah, H. (2020). Biodiesel research progress in Indonesia: Data from Science and Technology Index (Sinta). Technology Reports of Kansai University, 62(06).
Rahardja, U., Purnama Harahap, E., Ratna Dewi, S., & Tinggi Manajemen Informatika dan Komputer Raharja Jl Jendral, S. (2019). The strategy of enhancing article citation and H-index on SINTA to improve tertiary reputation. TELKOMNIKA (Telecommunication Computing Electronics and Control), 17(2), 683–692. https://doi.org/10.12928/TELKOMNIKA.V17I2.9761
Rey-Martí, A., Ribeiro-Soriano, D., & Palacios-Marqués, D. (2016). A bibliometric analysis of social entrepreneurship. Journal of Business Research, 69(5), 1651–1655. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JBUSRES.2015.10.033
Robbins, S. P. (2016). Finding your voice as an academic writer (and writing clearly). Http://Dx.Doi.Org/10.1080/10437797.2016.1151267, 52(2), 133–135. https://doi.org/10.1080/10437797.2016.1151267
Roldan-Valadez, E., Salazar-Ruiz, S. Y., Ibarra-Contreras, R., & Rios, C. (2019). Current concepts on bibliometrics: a brief review about impact factor, Eigenfactor score, CiteScore, SCImago Journal Rank, Source-Normalised Impact per Paper, H-index, and alternative metrics. Irish Journal of Medical Science, 188(3), 939–951. https://doi.org/10.1007/S11845-018-1936-5/METRICS
Safari, M. (2018). Do university students need to master the GSL and AWL words: A psychology word list. Journal of Modern Research in English Language Studies, 5(2), 101–122. https://doi.org/10.30479/JMRELS.2019.10266.1275
Shabani, M. B., & Tazik, K. (2014). Coxhead’s AWL across ESP and Asian EFL journal research articles (RAs): A corpus-based lexical study. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 98, 1722–1728. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.SBSPRO.2014.03.599
Tamela, E. (2020). Move structure analysis on research article abstracts in national and international scopus indexed journals. Proceedings of the International Conference on English Language Teaching (ICONELT 2019), 434, 12–17. https://doi.org/10.2991/ASSEHR.K.200427.004
Valipouri, L., & Nassaji, H. (2013). A corpus-based study of academic vocabulary in chemistry research articles. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 12(4), 248–263. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JEAP.2013.07.001
Vongpumivitch, V., Huang, J. yu, & Chang, Y. C. (2009). Frequency analysis of the words in the Academic Word List (AWL) and non-AWL content words in applied linguistics research papers. English for Specific Purposes, 28(1), 33–41. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ESP.2008.08.003
Weinstein, J. N., & Morgan, T. S. (2007). Threats to scientific advancement in clinical practice. Spine, 32(11 SUPPL.). https://doi.org/10.1097/BRS.0B013E318053D4FC
West, M. (1953). A general service list of English words. Longman, Green & Co.
Wicherts, J. M. (2016). Peer review quality and transparency of the peer-review process in open access and subscription journals. 11(1), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0147913
Wijaya, L. E., & Bram, B. (2022). Rhetorical structures of introduction sections in Sinta-indexed journals. Jurnal Onoma: Pendidikan, Bahasa, Dan Sastra, 8(1), 181–188. https://doi.org/10.30605/ONOMA.V8I1.1659
Xiao, Z., Qin, Y., Xu, Z., Antucheviciene, J., & Zavadskas, E. K. (2022). The Journal Buildings: A Bibliometric Analysis (2011-2021). Buildings, 12(1), 37. https://doi.org/10.3390/BUILDINGS12010037
Xodabande, I., Atai, M. R., Hashemi, M. R., & Thompson, P. (2023). Developing and validating a mid-frequency word list for chemistry: A corpus-based approach using big data. Asian-Pacific Journal of Second and Foreign Language Education, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40862-023-00205-5
Xodabande, I., Torabzadeh, S., Qafouri, M., & Emadi, A. (2022). Academic vocabulary in applied linguistics research articles: a corpus-based study. Journal of Language and Education, 8(2), 154–164. https://doi.org/10.17323/JLE.2022.13420
Xodabande, I., & Xodabande, N. (2020). Academic vocabulary in psychology research articles: A corpus-based study. MEXTESOL Journal, 44(3).
Yadira, A., Zein, T. T., & Setia, E. (2022). The analysis schematic structure of research article from journal indexed by Sinta. East Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Research , 1(5), 825–842. https://doi.org/10.55927/EAJMR.V1I5.572
Yang, M. N. (2015). A nursing academic word list. English for Specific Purposes, 37(1), 27–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ESP.2014.05.003
Yotimart, D. (2021). Academic vocabulary in sport tourism news: A corpus-based study. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 17(3), 1527–1535. https://doi.org/10.52462/jlls.110
Copyright (c) 2024 National Research University Higher School of Economics
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the Copyright Notice.
