Multilingüisme equilibrat en ciència

Abstract

Balanced multilingualism in science

In this paper, I propose balanced multilingualism as a useful concept for governing the tensions between strategies for internationalization and excellence in research on the one hand and strategies for promoting societal relevance, responsibility and impact of research on the other. I demonstrate that balanced multilingualism can be a dynamic and empirically based concept with which it will be possible to promote both types of strategies at the same time.

The concept is first introduced in relation to some main research policies and instruments of the European Union (The European Research Area; The European Research Council; Responsible Research and Innovation; Open Science; Citizen Science) and to the situation in Morocco as it was mirrored and discussed at the international conference on Research Evaluation: Issues, methods and tools in Rabat in December 2017. Then follows two examples of how the concept of balanced bilingualism has already influenced policies for research funding and scholarly publishing in Norway. I conclude with a summary of the requirements for making use of the concept to align policies for international excellence and societal responsibility in research.