‘출판 아니면 소멸’ 시대의『영어영문학』: 신진 연구자의 관점에서

Abstract

As the academic societies’ role in producing and distributing scholarly knowledge is becoming increasingly unstable in the digital AI era, the perceptions of early-career researchers (ECRs) regarding traditional domestic academic journals are also undergoing a notable shift. The ‘publish or perish’ culture, overlapping with the structural crisis of the humanities, has significantly undermined early-career researchers’ potential and capacity to make meaningful contributions to the advancement of the discipline and to fulfill the roles expected of them within the academic community. A key concern is that this ‘publish or perish’ imperative is not confined to individual researchers; it renders domestic humanities academic societies and in-house scholarly journals also precarious and vulnerable, as their continued existence depends on sustaining publishing capacity. Commissioned to mark the 70th anniversary of the Journal of English Language and Literature (JELL), this exploratory paper investigates the evolving relationship between ECRs and Korea’s English literary studies field shaped and sustained through journals published by academic societies. The paper first discusses the precarious and marginal positioning of ECRs within a domestic humanities ecosystem beset by existential threats, thus accounting for the multi-layered dilemmas and challenges they face. The paper then highlights the need for academic communities to support the stable transition of ECRs into independent and productive scholarly agents. Further, by examining existing publishing and editorial practices and emerging challenges, the paper urges JELL, as Korea’s flagship English literary studies journal, to explore alternatives to traditional journal structures and reinvent itself for continued relevance and significance.