Predatory publishing as a case of symbolic violence: A critical English for academic purposes approach

Abstract

A rising number of university faculty and students in Iran are falling prey to predatory publishers, that is, publishing academic low-quality and unethical research papers. There are increasing demands on researchers and students from both local and national authorities to publish widely. Because of the increasing pressure put on students and their professors to publish in national and international journals, it is often tempting for them to take the shortest possible means to get their papers published, which is predatory publishing. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate why publishing in predatory journals has been increasing among higher education students. In this article, we drew on Bourdieu’s concept of symbolic violence as well as critical English for academic purposes approach (CEAP) to demonstrate how domination and violence are reproduced in higher education which tempts students to resort to predatory publishing. To delve into students’ perceptions regarding predatory publishing, a structured questionnaire was constructed by the researchers and distributed among 52 PhD and MA students. The findings of his study assert that universities and professors can exert symbolic violence that silence students’ voices. The exhortation of this study involves pervading right analysis and critical pedagogy into the learning system in order to democratize higher education institutions and to enact meaningful and genuine pupil engagement in the process of article publication.

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