It is often during doctoral studies that many graduate students first engage with writing the genre of a research article. Further, in many doctoral programs, publication of a research article is often a requirement for graduation, making it a high-stakes process (Aitchison et al., 2010; Casanave, 2014; Guerin, 2016). While research article writing can be challenging for all scholars using their first language (L1), it can be even more difficult for those writing in an additional language (Badenhorst & Guerin, 2016; Hanauer & Englander, 2011). As noted by several scholars investigating the global politics of such writing (see Curry & Lillis, this volume), this task can be especially taxing for those attempting to achieve publication of their research when working from outside the global centers of knowledge production (e.g. the USA and the UK), including the global periphery (e.g. Sri Lanka, Indonesia) and semiperiphery (e.g. Portugal, Mexico) (Bennett, 2014). In an international scientific publishing landscape dominated by English, publishing from the semiperiphery is precisely the task faced by emerging (PhD student) plurilingual, English as an additional language (EAL) scientists at ‘Mexico University’ (MU, a pseudonym), who must publish an article in a scientific journal in their field to fulfill program requirements for graduation.

This chapter outlines findings from part of a larger investigation of MU plurilingual EAL scholars’ experiences with writing for academic publication. The research question addressed in this chapter is: How did participants (scholars, instructors, course designers, journal editors) view the efficacy of an intensive English for research publication purposes (ERPP) course? This chapter begins by providing contextual information on MU and the ERPP course, then describes the study research methods, discusses the findings and suggests the potential and limitations of such a course in meeting the writing for publication needs of MU scholars.