Coming out as an autistic researcher: academic writing and its breakdowns

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. one author of this publication is identified as autistic in the project.

About the autistic author marker

Metadata sources used for this reference

OpenAlex Crossref
Learn more about the sources used

Boven, F. (2026). Coming out as an autistic researcher: academic writing and its breakdowns. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 17, 1678024-1678024. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1678024

Journal or book title
Frontiers in Psychiatry
Publisher
Frontiers Media SA
Volume
17
Pages
1678024-1678024
Article number
1678024
Publication date: 30 Jan 2026 Added to AutiHub: 5 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) Full text OpenAlex source

This publication is integrated into AutiHub through:

Authors

Publication authors
1
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 1 (100.0%)
  1. Frederik Boven *

Abstract

This descriptive article offers an inside perspective of the experience of writing a publishable paper by an autistic early-career researcher. From an external perspective, this experience might be described as involving hyperfocus, indecision about framing, and conflicting norms of academic writing. The article develops an inside perspective on such experiences. The author adopts a philosophical approach, using phenomenological reflection on breakdowns as a method to explicate what is implicitly given in experience. Reflection on three types of research breakdown in academic writing results in an inside description of the complexities of this particular experience by someone who is both autistic and an academic researcher.

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 3 Oct 2026 01:00.

Cited references
33
With a DOI
17
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
16
6 / 33 (18.2%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
0 / 33 (0.0%)
References with detected author names
33 / 33 (100.0%)
Without detected author names
0
Without a structured title
0
Without a stable identifier
15
References with raw author names still to review
0
References with external metadata lookup issues
0
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
46
From DOI or external metadata
46
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
0
19 / 46 (41.3%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 27 / 46 (58.7%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
14 / 46 (30.4%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 14 / 19 (73.7%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 13 / 45 (28.9%).
  1. Hans Asperger (1944). Die „Autistischen Psychopathen” im Kindesalter . Archiv für Psychiatrie und Nervenkrankheiten, 117(1), 76-136. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1007/bf01837709 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W1965210252
    Crossref OpenAlex
  2. Sacks (1995). An anthropologist on Mars: seven paradoxical tales . An anthropologist on Mars: seven paradoxical tales.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  3. Susan M. Bredlau (2010). A Respectful World: Merleau-Ponty and the Experience of Depth . Human Studies, 33(4), 411-423. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1007/s10746-011-9173-1 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2056871277
    Crossref OpenAlex
  4. Olfman (2002). Asperger’s disorder in cultural context . Encounter, 15, 34.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  5. Isabelle Soulières , Laurent Mottron , Daniel Saumier , Serge Larochelle (2007). Atypical Categorical Perception in Autism: Autonomy of Discrimination? Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 37(3), 481-490. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1007/s10803-006-0172-4 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2078448610
    Crossref OpenAlex
  7. Cowen (2010). The Age of the Infovore: Succeeding in the Information Economy . The Age of the Infovore: Succeeding in the Information Economy.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  8. Ivana Anton Mlinar (2017). Psychopathology and Corporality: The Possibilities of Intersubjectivity for Restoring Experience. The Cases of Schizophrenia and Autism . In Psychiatry and Neuroscience Update−Vol. II: A Translational Approach (pp. 13-20). Springer International Publishing.
    Type: Book chapter DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-53126-7_2 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2725596332
    Crossref OpenAlex
  9. Till Grohmann (2018). Hypnotic experience and the autism spectrum disorder. A phenomenological investigation . Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 17(5), 889-909. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1007/s11097-018-9563-1 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2789314248
    Crossref OpenAlex
  10. Harrington (2021). Threshold Concepts – A Multi-Modal Exploration of the Lived Experience . Threshold Concepts – A Multi-Modal Exploration of the Lived Experience.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  11. Nicola Martin (2021). Perspectives on UK university employment from autistic researchers and lecturers . Disability & Society, 36(9), 1510-1531. Informa UK Limited.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1080/09687599.2020.1802579 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W3041998769
    Crossref OpenAlex
  13. Katherine Ward (2021). Breaking down experience—Heidegger's methodological use of breakdown in Being and Time . European Journal of Philosophy, 29(4), 712-730. Wiley.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1111/ejop.12600 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W3087283482
    Crossref OpenAlex
  14. Sherman (2023). Autoethnography on Autistic Agency: An Autistic-Led and Autistic-Driven Transition Process to Full-Time Academia . Autoethnography on Autistic Agency: An Autistic-Led and Autistic-Driven Transition Process to Full-Time Academia.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  16. Audrey J. Scaer * , Christopher R. Dabbs * (2025). Inside Out: Autistic Psychologists on the Power Structures of Diagnosis . Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture, 6(2). Grand Valley State University Libraries - DIGITAL COMMONS JOURNALS.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.9707/2833-1508.1210 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W4411112306
    AutiHub · Autistic Autism Scholarship Project Crossref OpenAlex
  18. Joel Krueger (2021). Finding (and losing) one’s way: autism, social impairments, and the politics of space . Phenomenology & Mind, 21, 20. Lexis srl.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.17454/pam-2102 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W4244495688
    Crossref OpenAlex
  19. Stump (2019). Allowing autistic academics the freedom to be autistic: The ADA and a neurodiverse future in Pennsylvania and beyond . Duq L Rev, 57, 92.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  20. Edmund Husserl (2014). Ideas . Routledge.
    Type: Book DOI: 10.4324/9781315823577 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W4256333836
    Crossref OpenAlex
  22. Jonathan Green , Nicola Shaughnessy (2023). Autistic phenomenology: past, present, and potential future . Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1287209-1287209. Frontiers Media SA.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1287209 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W4390268303
    Crossref OpenAlex
  23. Anderson (2013). The philosophy of autism . The philosophy of autism.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  24. Jami L. Anderson , Simon Cushing (2025). Contemporary Philosophy of Autism . Routledge.
    Type: Book DOI: 10.4324/9781003627104 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W4412173346
    Crossref OpenAlex
  25. Kupferstein (2020). Able Grounded Phenomenology (AGP): Toward an Ethical and Humane Model for Non-Autistic Researchers Conducting Autism Research . Able Grounded Phenomenology (AGP): Toward an Ethical and Humane Model for Non-Autistic Researchers Conducting Autism Research.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  26. Léo Kanner (1943). Autistic disturbances of affective contact . The Nervous Child, 2(3), 217.
    Type: Article OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2255119171
    Crossref
  27. Husserl (1970). Logical investigations . Logical investigations.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  28. Detmer (2013). Phenomenology explained: From experience to insight . Phenomenology explained: From experience to insight.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  29. Dreyfus (1991). Being-in-the-World: A Commentary on Heidegger’s being and Time, Division I . Being-in-the-World: A Commentary on Heidegger’s being and Time, Division I.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  30. Heidegger (1962). Being and time . Being and time.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  31. Pantazakos (2019). Scientific realism and phenomenology through the case study of autism . Scientific realism and phenomenology through the case study of autism.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  32. Tarragnat (2024). A foray into the bubbles of autistics: the phenomenology of being-in-the-world from umwelt theory to intense world theory . Minority Rep Cult Disabil Stud, 18, 233−57.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  33. Helkala−Koivisto (2019). Finding a human lifeworld through musical communication: Existential-semiotic movements between severe-autism-and spoken-language-reality . The Semiotics of Lifeworld Existentials: Between Necessity and Choice, 89.
    Type: Other
    Crossref