Journal research article abstracts, considered as the most read section of the entire paper, have been the focus of multi-dimensional research studies. In the genre of abstracts, vocabulary richness is the basis for the construction of sentences, paragraphs, and complete texts; it contributes to non-native (and even native) English speakers of the language in the production and comprehension of written texts. To explore its importance, the present study examines the lexical richness in abstracts of scientific papers; it consists of three distinct measurement dimensions: lexical density, lexical variation, and lexical sophistication. The comparative-descriptive analysis is based on a corpus of abstracts in English published in Anglophone and non-Anglophone contexts. The written corpora were subjected to a software-driven text analysis using the complete lextutor vocab-profile available online at https://www.lextutor.ca/vp/eng/; the output texts from the software analyser were mined using SPSS statistics. Results show that although abstracts in both publication contexts use varied and extensive vocabulary throughout the two English sub-corpora, Anglophone texts, unlike non-Anglophone ones, produce more content and off-list words. This study announces valuable insights, particularly for inexperienced and novice writers, on using automatic online tools, such as vocab-profile, to gauge the type of vocabulary used in their written compositions.

Keywords: abstract; lexical richness; publication context; text analyser; written corpora

Aarts, B. (2014). The Oxford dictionary of English grammar (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.

Abdullah, S., Abdul Aziz, R., & Kamaruddin, R. (2021). Lexical verbs in verb-noun collocations: Empirical evidence from a Malay ESL Learner Corpus. 3L: Language, Linguistics, Literature: The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies, 27(4), 144-156. http://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2021-2704-11

Al-mudhaffari, M., Hussin, S., & Ho Abdullah, I. (2019). Interaction in Academic L2 writing: An analysis of Interactional Metadiscourse Strategies in Applied Linguistics Research Articles. 3L: The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies, 25(3), 16-32. http://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2019-2503-02

Arnold, I. V. (1986). The English word, Department of English Philology, Orenburg State Pedagogical Institute named after V.P. Chkalova. https://bit.ly/3znP1Fc

Bahtiar, S., Samad, A., Razali, A., & Wei, H. (2020). A corpus analysis of frequently occurring words and their collocations in high-impact research articles in education. 3L: The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies, 26(4), 99-113. http://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2020-2604-08

Bazerman, C. (1984). Modern evolution of the experimental report in Physics: Spectroscopic articles in Physical Review, 1893-1980. Social Studies of Science, 14(2), 163-196. http://www.jstor.org/stable/284651

Bhatia, V. K. (1993). Analyzing genre: Language use in professional settings. Longman Publishing.

Biber, D., & Conrad, S. (2009). Register, genre, and style. Cambridge University Press.

Biber, D., & Gray, B. (2016). Grammatical complexity in academic English: Linguistic change in writing. Cambridge University Press.

Cobb, T. (2006). Complete lexical tutor. http://www.lextutor.ca

Colman, A.M. (2015). Dictionary of Psychology (4th ed.). Oxford University Press

Connor, U. (2004). Intercultural rhetoric research: Beyond texts. Journal of English for academic purposes, 3, 291-304. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2004.07.003

Constitución del Ecuador, ciencia, tecnología, innovación y saberes ancestrales. Asamblea Constituyente. [Constitution of Ecuador, Science, technology, innovation and ancestral knowledge.] (2008). Constituent Assembly. https://bit.ly/3iANdCY https://bit.ly/3Lc16DN

Djiwandono, P. I. (2016, 21 January). Lexical richness in academic papers: A comparison between students’ and lecturers’ essays. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 5(2), 209-216. http://www.doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v5i2.1345

Douglas, S. R. (2012). Non-Native English-Speaking Students at University: Lexical Richness and Academic Success. (Unpublished dissertation). Universitas Calgary, Alberta. http://hdl.handle.net/1880/48195

Douglas, S. R. (2019). The productive lexical profile of an undergraduate non-credit academic writing course. In A. Tsedryk & C. Doe (Eds.), The description, measurement, and pedagogy of words (pp. 142–172). Cambridge Scholars Publishing. https://bit.ly/3NWo18v

Durrant, P. (2014). Discipline and level specificity in university students’ written vocabulary. Applied Linguistics, 35(3), 328-356. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amt016

Gardner, D. (2013). Exploring vocabulary: Language in action. Routledge. https://bit.ly/2UBX4vX

Ha, H. S. (2019). Lexical richness in EFL undergraduate students’ academic writing. English Teaching, 74(3), 3-28.

Halliday, M. A., & Hassan, R. (1976). Coherence in English. Longman.

Harvey, B. (2000). Stat Trek Random Number Generator. Georgia Institute of Technology, Retrieved February 20, 2021, from http://stattrek.com/Tables/Random.aspx

Hu, M., & Nation, P. (2000). Unknown vocabulary density and reading comprehension. Reading in a foreign language, 13(1), 403-430.

Hung, B., Quang, H., Nguyen, L., & Thi Viet, N. (2021). A Cross-Linguistic Approach to Analysing Cohesive Devices in Expository Writing by Asian EFL teachers. 3L: Language, Linguistics, Literature: The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies, 27(2), 16-30. http://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2021-2702-02

Hyland, K. (2004). Disciplinary discourses. social interactions in academic writing (2nd ed.). Michigan Classics Edition.

Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos: Encuesta nacional de nmpleo, Desempleo y subempleo (ENEMDU). [National Institute of Statistics and Censuses: National survey of employment, Unemployment and underemployment (ENEMDU)], (2018). https://www.ecuadorencifras.gob.ec/enemdu-2018/

Kaplan, R., Cantor, S., Hagstrom, C., Kamhi-Stein, L., Shiotani, Y., & Zimmerman, C. (1994) On abstract writing. Text & Talk - Interdisciplinary Journal for the Study of Discourse, 14(3), 401-426. https://www.degruyter.com/journal/key/text/14/3/html

Laufer, B., & Nation, P. (1995). Vocabulary size and use: Lexical richness in L2 written production. Applied Linguistics, 16(3), 307–322. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/16.3.307

Laufer, B., & Nation, P. (2001). Passive vocabulary size and speed of meaning recognition: Are they related? In S. Foster-Cohen & A. Nizegorodcew (Eds.), EUROSLA yearbook (pp. 7-28). John Benjamins.

Laufer, B., Elder, C., Hill, K., & Congdon, P. (2004). Size and strength: Do we need both to measure vocabulary knowledge? Language Testing. 21(2), 202-226. https://doi.org/10.1191/0265532204lt277oa

Lee, J. (2018). A Coh-metrix analysis of lexical, syntactic and discourse aspects in the newspaper articles of Korean and British university students. Modern English Education, 19(4), 17-26. https://doi.org/10.18095/meeso.2018.19.4.17

Lewis, M. (1993). The lexical approach: The state of ELT and the way forward. Language Teaching Publications.

Lin, C., & Lin, Y. (2019). Grammatical and lexical patterning of make in asian learner writing: A corpus-based study of ICNALE. 3L: The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies, 25(3), 1-15. http://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2019-2503-01

Lipka, L. (2002). English lexicology: Lexical structure, word semantics & word formation. Tubingen, Germany. Gunter Narr Verlag Tubingen. https://bit.ly/3AkmXnr

Loan Nguyen, T. (2018). Rhetorical structures and linguistic features of English abstracts in Thai Rajabhat University journals. 3L: The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies, 24(4), 71–84. http://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2018-2404-06

Mohamed Sultan, F.M. & Taha, M. (2018). The syntax of applicative Constructions in spoken Sudanese Arabic. 3L: Language, Linguistics, Literature, 24(2), 143-153.

McArthur, T., Lam-McArthur, J. & Fontaine, L. (2018). The Oxford companion to the English language (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.

Nation, P. (2001). Learning vocabulary in another language. Cambridge University Press.

Pho, P.D. (2008). “Research article abstracts in applied linguistics and educational technology: A study of linguistic realizations of rhetorical structure and authorial stance”. Discourse Studies. 10(2), 231-250, https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445607087010

Read, J. (2000). Assessing Vocabulary. Cambridge University Press.

Romero, N. (2020). Lexical richness and readability in English degree students’ writing. [Unpublished master's thesis]. Graduate Department. Technical University of Cotopaxi. Latacunga-Ecuador.

Salager-Mayer, F. (1990). Discoursal flaws in medical English abstracts: a genre analysis per research and text type. Text. 10(4), 365-384. https://doi.org/10.1515/text.1.1990.10.4.365

Sánchez, P. (2020). Lexical bundles and moves in research article abstracts of different disciplines. ODISEA: Revista de estudios ingleses. 21, 71-87. https://doi.org/10.25115/odisea.v0i21.4130

Sayfouri, N. (2010). SFL and ESP genre analysis of English research articles in Iranian and English medical journals: A contrastive study [Published Doctoral Thesis]. University of Tehran, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.1.4084.7446

Schmitt, N. (2000). Vocabulary in language teaching. Cambridge University Press.

Šišková, Z. (2012). Lexical richness in EFL students’ narratives. University of Reading Language Studies Working Papers, 4, 26–36. https://bit.ly/3A1E3FT

Strang, B. (1968). Modern English structure, 2nd ed. Edward Arnold (Publishers) Ltd.

Swales, J. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge University Press.

Tankó, G. (2017). Literary research article abstracts: An analysis of rhetorical moves and their linguistic realizations. Journal of English for Academic Purposes. 27, 42-55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2017.04.003

Tovar, R. (2017). Vocabulary knowledge in the production of written texts: a case study on EFL language learners. Revista Tecnologica ESPOL. 30(3), 89-105. https://bit.ly/3Ju2v8g https://bit.ly/3N9kPWB

Tovar, R. (2019). Rhetorical move structure in abstracts of research articles published in Ecuadorian and American english-speaking contexts. Arab World English Journal, 10(4), 74-87. https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol10no4.6

Van Bonn, S., & Swales, J.M. (2007). English and French journal abstracts in the language sciences: Three exploratory studies. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 6(2), 93-108, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2007.04.001

Ventola, E. (1994). Abstracts as an object of linguistic study. In S. Cmejrkova, F. Danes & E. Havolova (Eds.), Writing vs. speaking: Language, text, discourse, communication (pp. 333-352). Gunter Narr.

Waluyo, B., & Kakoko, R. (2021). Academic vocabulary used by high school students in essays and its relation to English proficiency. 3L: Language, Linguistics, Literature. The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies. 27(4),157-172. http://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2021-2704-12