This volume investigates identity traits in academic discourse. Its main purpose is to better understand how and to what extent language forms and functions are adapting to the globalisation of academic discourse. Key factors of verbal behaviour such as the affiliation of actors to one or more cultures have been found to interact, producing transversal identities that are independent of local traits, with a tendency to merge and hybridise in an intercultural sense. The volume consists of three main parts: The first deals with identity traits across languages and cultures, as the use of a given language affects the writing of a scholar, especially when it is not his/her native language. The second comprises investigations of identity features characterising specific disciplinary communities or marking a differentiation from other branches of knowledge. The third part of the volume deals with identity aspects emerging from genre and gender variation.

Maurizio Gotti is Professor of English and Director of the Research Centre on Specialized Languages (CERLIS) at the University of Bergamo. His main research areas are the features and origins of specialized discourse, English syntax and English lexicography. He is a member of the Editorial Board of national and international journals, and edits the series for Peter Lang.

Contents: Maurizio Gotti: Introduction – Maurizio Gotti: Variation in Academic Texts – Maurizio Gotti: The CADIS Corpus – Davide S. Giannoni: Local/Global Identities and the Medical Editorial Genre – Larissa D’Angelo: Identity Conflicts in Book Reviews: A Cross-disciplinary Comparison – Stefania M. Maci: The Section of Medical Research Articles: A Cross-cultural Perspective – Michele Sala: Different Systems, Different Styles: Legal Expertise and Professional Identities in Legal Research Articles – Ulisse Belotti: Variations of Identity in Single- and Multi-Authored Economics RA Abstracts – Davide S. Giannoni: Evaluation and Popularisation in Journal Editorials: Medicine vs Applied Linguistics – Davide S. Giannoni: Metaphoric Expressions and Editorial Identity Across Disciplines – Michele Sala: Metadiscursive Resources as Indicators of Disciplinary Variation – Michele Sala: Interrogative Forms as Engagement Markers: A Diachronic Perspective – Stefania M. Maci: Fast-track Publications: The Genre of Medical Research Letters – Larissa D’Angelo: Academic Poster Presentations: Mapping the Genre – Stefania M. Maci: The Genre of Medical Conference Posters – Larissa D’Angelo: Exploring Gender Identity in Academic Research Articles and Book Reviews.