Cheung, Y. L. (201 O). Challenges in \Vriting Refereed English Journal Papers and Institutional Suppo1t on Research Publication. Asian Journal of English Language Teaching, 20, 207-224. © 2010 The Chinese University ot'Hong Kong Challenges in Writing Refereed English Journal Papers and Institutional Support for Research Publication Yin Ling CHEUNG Na11ya11g Tech11ological University, Singapore Much qf acaden1ic publishing researC"h is conducted with professors and uirfl postgraduate majoring in Tf1ere is less puh/i.l'hed research on how EFL pos1.qraduare s11;de11ts speciaiiz.iug in c1pplied /i11guislics reflect 011 1//eir pulilishi11g activities. Little is known about whar cfi(ll/e1Jges rlrese students .fa(_'c in writing journal 1u1pe1·s and how they perceive supporl pro11itled by their 1111il'ersi1ie.r 111i1h regard to publishing. The present stutZ)' fills this gap by invesri- garing .vix Ho11g Kong postgrad11ale s11ule11ts 10 undel'stt11ul their challenges in publislling refereed jou111(1i papers tJ1ui their perception of instituriona! supporr for reset1rc// pubficarion. The interview dal(l highlight that fack of 11101ivatio11 anti lack of confidence are chl1lle11ges faced by the interviewees in writing jou111al papers. De.171ite rhe /tier thttt Ho11.i: Kong 1i11iversities f'rovided support to help dr1c101'tll stut/ents develop reseorch pu!Jlicarion, the 1najority of the inter- 11iewees had nor fully benefitetf frtJlll such exis1i11g supporJ. It is co11cluded thnt flick of co11fide11r:e could /Je 1urrib11ted to thf! studellts' 11011-native E11glish speakt'r status and insufficient fon11af i11stru('fio11 in acade111ic wri1ing, while hick of· 1norivafia11 could be explored reference to the 1;ocio-cu/t11ral context in Hon.i: Kong. Introduction In the last twenty-five years, the field of second language writing has seen a great nu1nber of studies on acaden1ic publishing, especially refereed journal articles (e.g., Adams-Smith, !984; Bazerman, 1988;