Resumen de Writing to be read, or how to achieve more through less [Language Matters]

Terrence R Carney

• Wolfgang Klein’s observation in 1989 that a steady rise in academic publications affects a scientist’s capacity to read and write more extends to issues like funding, tenure, and citation on the one hand, and technological advancements like artificial intelligence that enable (and corrupt) research on the other. In documenting speakers’ linguistic behaviour in varied social settings, sociolinguistics journals are necessary platforms for the dissemination and archiving of sociolinguistic data. Like many academic journals, however, sociolinguistics journals also play a vital role in amassing information, simultaneously contributing to sociolinguistic progress and data excess. In this commentary, I agree with Klein that production should be reduced to some extent for authors to both read and write, and to contribute content in support of the research – not simply to be published.