Congress 2021 blog edition
Leading Canadian editors from across the country take on the important issue of Francophone scholarship in today’s panel titled “Le Français Dans Un Monde Scientifique Anglophone/French In An English-Dominated Academic World.” In a series of rapid talks, Canada’s leading advocates for French academic publishing discuss what it means to be a Francophone publisher in a predominantly Anglophone industry landscape.
The interdisciplinary panel featured Alexandrine Boudreault-Fournier, Assistant Professor at University of Victoria and Editor-in-Chief of Anthropologica, Marc-André Éthier, Professor at Université de Montréal and Editor-in-Chief of Revue des sciences de l’éducation, David Lefrançois, Professor at Université du Québec en Outaouais and Managing Editor at Revue des sciences de l’éducation, Hélène Cazes, Professor at University of Victoria, Director of Topiques, Études Satoriennes and Associate Editor of Renaissance and Reformation/Renaissance et Réforme, Liette Vasseur, Professor at Brock University and Editor-in-Chief of Botany, Christian Lacroix, Professor University of Prince Edward Island and Editor-in-Chief of Botany, and Emmanuel Hogg, Managing Editor at Histoire sociale/Social History.
Boudreault-Fournier kicked off the panel discussion, diving into the significance of Open Access as a tool to grow the accessibility of Francophone research. The professor argues that supporting Open Access publishing will translate into more power and flexibility for authors who want to publish in French. Lefrançois agrees, noting that Open Access has the potential to address some of the barriers that French publications face. One of these challenges, according to Lefrançois, is working to diffuse knowledge to a readership who relies on innovative research - including practitioners and clinicians.
Éthier drew the audience’s attention to a vital issue unfolding in the Francophone publishing community: competition for French-speaking editors. With smaller communities to draw from, French journals are struggling to find Francophone scholars who can adequately take on robust evaluation and reviews. Vasseur reiterates this concern and notes that we need more resources to build the Francophone research community. The professor and Editor-in-Chief of Botany argues that supporting Francophone publishing comes down to empowering French authors in developing countries to submit their research for publication and investing in sophisticated translation tools.
For both Cazes and Lacroix, elevating Francophone research means turning to internal support. Cazes explains that she relies extensively on the resources and network of her home library team. This is important, Cazes explains, because Francophone publishing is facing cultural resistance tied to questions of principles. Some of this resistance stems from different perspectives embraced by European versus North American cultures. Lacroix argues that it is the editorial board of the journal that must reinforce the importance of equality between the two languages. A part of this responsibility to enforce equality, argues Lacroix, means even supporting Francophone colleagues who want to publish in English.
As demonstrated in the question period by the enthusiasm and engagement of the audience, it is clear that empowering Francophone publishing is imperative for so many Canadian scholars.