Scholarly discourse: The growth of English for Research Publication Purposes

English for Research and Publication Purposes (ERPP) has rapidly emerged as a productive area of second language writing research as the number of academics, journals and articles has exploded across the world. In this paper we use bibliometric methods to track changes in published work in ERPP over the last 40 years. Based on all 4,354 articles on the topic in Web of Science indexed journals between 1982 and 2022, we show what research themes have been most popular and which authors, publications and source countries have been most influential. The results indicate a shift away from a focus on pedagogical issues and classroom practices towards emerging academic publishing contexts such as open access, knowledge production and collaborative learning. This maturation of the field is also revealed in the growing concern with diverse research methods, with practitioner development, and with issues in higher education. Swales, Hyland, Halliday, Flowerdew and Biber are prominent in both author and publication lists, with a greater number of specialists in academic writing after 2008. The results also show a widening researcher base and the growing importance of Asian countries, particularly China. These findings may be of interest to writing professionals working in Higher Education.