Editorial Note—The Persistent Issue of Criteria: An Editor’s Reflection

One of the questions I was asked when I was interviewed for the position of editor of the Alberta Journal of Educational Research (AJER) was, "what do you expect to be the most challenging aspect of this role?"Having given this some thought prior to the interview, I was quick to reply: "It will be to find a balance between guiding the author(s) towards a high-quality publication while allowing them to preserve their unique voice and perspective."After my immigration to Canada, the issue of "voice" as it relates to language has been at the forefront of my academic career.As a non-native speaker of English, I am acutely aware of the symbolic capital (Bourdieu, 1991) inherent in the authority of those who possess the linguistic capital, "the fluency in, and comfort with, a high status-language which is used by groups who possess economic, social and political power and status in global and local societies" (Morrison & Lui, 2000, p. 473).Although academic language can be specific to a discipline, the ability to communicate in the "high-status language" of the discipline is a challenge to those who not only have to make themselves understood in a foreign language, but also to make claims in that language from a position of disciplinary authority.The mastery of English as the "lingua franca" or "common language" (Crystal, 2003, p. 11) has become a means to academic success for many academics working in non-English speaking countries, as well.I am aware, therefore, of the (English) language challenges faced by academics working in non-English speaking countries who are striving to have their work published in English-and thus become recognized as members of the privileged group of "knowledge producers" and to have their "voice" heard outside of their local contexts.What is heard outside of the local (non-English speaking) context, however, depends on each author's ability to communicate the message in the "common language" where the local/original meaning can be easily lost in translation.Given that the role played by language and meaning in defining and constructing reality has been a central epistemological issue since the "linguistic turn" at the beginning of the 20 th century, the role of journal editor is clearly beyond finding/suggesting the most appropriate word that would make sense in the text.I believed that my personal experiences, as well as my previous work with colleagues from contexts that sometimes have different standards and styles of academic writing, have helped me see the role of journal editor as an opportunity to help authors express and highlight to the reader what is the most important aspect of their research, rather than imposing my own views of how their research should be presented.Diverse voices, perspectives and modes of representation define research today, and any contemporary research journal should embrace such diversity: "After all, our thought itself-philosophical, scientific, artistic-is born and shaped in the process of interaction and struggle with others' thought" (Bakhtin, 1986, p. 92).

Récupéré en direct depuis OpenAlex et désinversé. Les résumés ne sont pas conservés dans cette base de données : les index inversés représentent 8,6 Go des 9,3 Go de texte de la base, et le serveur dispose de 13 Go libres.