Authorial presence in academic writing

Self-reference plays an important role in academic writing since it reflects the identity of the authors and may also serve as an indicator of authorial presence. This study investigates the diachronic change in self-reference by conducting a quantitative analysis of 23 self-reference markers in a 10-million-word corpus comprising research articles published in Science from 1997 to 2021. The analysis also compares the diachronic change of self-reference in both abstracts and full texts. Our diachronic analysis reveals three salient trends: (1) divergent patterns between abstracts and full texts, with abstracts demonstrating higher authorial presence overtime; (2) a significant increase in first-person plural pronouns and determiners (we/our/us/ours), particularly prominent in abstracts; (3) a significant rise of third-person noun phrases (i.e., the author) and inanimate noun phrases (i.e., this study), particularly in full texts; does not read well. Such shifts in authorial presence may have evolved as a promotional discourse strategy. Finally, the findings of this study yield both empirical and pedagogical implications.