This exploratory study analyses growing pressures on faculty in Central Asia to publish research in high-quality international journals and how faculty attempt to meet publishing mandates from institutions and ministries motivated to join world rankings. This is important because of the scarcity of Central Asian scholarship in peer-reviewed journalism and mass communication (J&MC) journals due to the exceptional challenges faculty face publishing their work internationally. This study, the first of its kind for international J&MC scholarship, draws on a survey and qualitative interviews with faculty who presented research on J&MC topics at one or more Central Eurasian Studies Society (CESS) conferences from 2015 to 2019. The study selected CESS because it is one of the few academic and international venues focused on the region. It found that a third of conference papers were subsequently published. Among paper authors who did not publish, many cite heavy teaching and administrative workloads, weak methodological and theoretical exposure, and unfamiliarity with international standards of research writing. The article discusses the findings in relation to the growing number of predatory journals, escalating demands on faculty to publish internationally, Western-centric disciplinary journals, and insufficient research support from their institutions and ministries.
