“Academic writers often assume that they have to produce a
particular style of prose because peer-reviewers and editors will accept nothing else.
But many journal editors want to push against disciplinary boundaries and reach out
to a wider audience; they actively welcome articles written ‘in an accessible, but
rigorous, style that is likely to engage those without a specialist interest in the topic
being discussed’ (Studies in Higher Education submission guidelines). The status quo
will begin to shift only when more and more academics dare to write differently,
replacing impersonal research reports with real-life stories about students, teachers
and researchers (human beings!) engaged in the challenging, frustrating, exhilarating
work of higher education.” (‘Writing higher education differently: a manifesto on style’, 2009, Studies in Higher Education, 34 (3)

Who is allowed to push against those disciplinary boundaries? Which disciplines allow such creative subversion? And why? The following book advocates a similar manifesto, but if journals are going to reject this academic flair, what’s the point? http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/student-writing-and-genre-9781441171610/