EN
The article analyses the issue of publications written in English by a specialists in the humanities and social sciences who are educated and work in non-English speaking regions. Polish scientists constitute the basis for the study. The problem is considered from the perspective of the sociology of careers and reveals that the process of publishing a scientific paper is a complex sociological pro¬cess determined by criteria other than meritocratic ones. The selection process, leading to successful publication in a professional journal, is determined by several factors (not related to scientific skills), such as appurtenance to networks of scientific institutions, disciplinary culture and areas of refe¬rences, as well as the type of knowledge (not related to quality, but rather to scientific background, which the authors refer to). On the basis of ethnographical and auto-ethnographical research it is shown that the common spread approach, which supports the publication of all kinds of studies in English by humanities and social scientists, is the result of a misunderstanding of the sociological component of the scientific publication process. It is also due to a lack of knowledge about the mecha¬nisms governing scientific careers, inherent in regions where local languages are fundamental for studies (which is different to the specialties in sciences, which are developed in a technical language, e.g., in English).