Resumen de Navigating a national linguistics journal through local interests and global pressures: an editorial view on the problem of academic overproduction [Slovo a slovesnost]

Petr Kaderka, Tamah Sherman

• This contribution responds to Wolfgang Klein’s text “Schreiben oder Lesen, aber nicht beides, oder: Vorschlag zur Wiedereinführung der Keilschrift mittels Hammer und Meißel” (Zeitschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Linguistik 74, 1989, 116–119) from the perspective of long-term editors of a traditional national linguistics journal, Slovo a slovesnost (Czech Republic). After providing a historical context for the journal’s contemporary position, we examine the issues that currently require the greatest degree of adaptation on our part. These include the politics of textual genres in light of the need to enhance transparency of research practice, the ongoing struggle to both maintain and improve the quality of peer review, and the gatekeeping role of the academic journal. We conclude by stating that while Klein’s original premise that something must be done about the problem of overproduction is well-intentioned, the excessive growth in the number of published texts is basically unavoidable, and that we can only combat its detrimental effects by clearly establishing and enacting our priorities (including the support for national languages) as authors, readers and editors.