Revisiting the role of 'discipline' in writing for publication in two social sciences

The role of discipline in shaping writing for publication has been widely acknowledged in EAP research, and a wealth of studies that seek to characterise and differentiate disciplinary writing have been published. However, a conceptualisation of disciplines as clearly demarcated territories may be outdated given the “constantly changing and dynamic […] contemporary university” (Manathunga & Brew, 2014, p.45). In light of these changes, our article interrogates the centrality of discipline in research-based writing, from the academics' perspective. To do so, we adopt Trowler (2014a) reconceptualization of discipline as an analytical framework. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven scholars in two social sciences. Interview data was supplemented by an analysis of the participants' research-based outputs. The results highlight the contested nature of disciplinary affiliation and reveal the range of factors that participants perceive to be “shapers” of writing for publication, beyond discipline: epistemological/methodological, structural and individual. Based on the results, we argue that Trowler's new metaphor of discipline enables us to account for our findings, and conclude with recommendations for EAP writing for publication interventions.