Comparative analysis of language patterns, structure and content specifics in English abstracts of linguistic articles: based on Russian and English journals

The article aims to identify the challenges of creating English abstracts for articles written by Russian authors. Three international linguistic journals from the Scopus and Web of Science databases, published in English, were chosen as models for comparison. Three Russian journals (RLJ-1, RLJ-2, RLJ-3), included in the list of journals approved by the Higher Attestation Commission, were targeted for analysis. A continuous sampling method was used to select 15 articles from each journal, all in the field of linguistics, published from 2015 to 2022, to compare the size, structure, and lexis of their abstracts. Fifteen criteria were designed to assess their correspondence to the IMRAD standard. The results showed a number of serious deviations from the standard. Among the three journals, RLJ-3 was found to be the closest to the standard. Several structural deviations were discovered, including the absence of (i) aims, (ii) specific results, and, quite often, (iii) brief descriptions of materials and methods. These findings point to a problem that goes far beyond translation challenges.