I’ve begun to find it strange when single authors self-refer using “we” in certain circumstances within the academic literature. Certainly it makes sense if one is speaking of oneself and the audience inclusive, in the vein of, “…we shall see that a formal analysis demonstrates the relationships to be identical.” However, I’ve noticed that it’s not uncommon to see single authors use “we” in senses where it clearly refers only to the speaker (writer) and not to the group of participants in the total dialogue. For example, “We disagree with the common characterization of…” or “Herein we propose a framework…”

I may be missing something here, but why not just write “I” and be clear about it? Clearly these are not examples of writing under an oppressive demand for passive voice, so should pronouns in the correct person-sense not be used?