disadvantages of writing a research paper

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11.1 The Purpose of Research Writing

Learning objectives.

Identify reasons to research writing projects.
Outline the steps of the research writing process.

Why was the Great Wall of China built? What have scientists learned about the possibility of life on Mars? What roles did women play in the American Revolution? How does the human brain create, store, and retrieve memories? Who invented the game of football, and how has it changed over the years?

You may know the answers to these questions off the top of your head. If you are like most people, however, you find answers to tough questions like these by searching the Internet, visiting the library, or asking others for information. To put it simply, you perform research.

Whether you are a scientist, an artist, a paralegal, or a parent, you probably perform research in your everyday life. When your boss, your instructor, or a family member asks you a question that you do not know the answer to, you locate relevant information, analyze your findings, and share your results. Locating, analyzing, and sharing information are key steps in the research process, and in this chapter, you will learn more about each step. By developing your research writing skills, you will prepare yourself to answer any question no matter how challenging.

Reasons for Research

When you perform research, you are essentially trying to solve a mystery—you want to know how something works or why something happened. In other words, you want to answer a question that you (and other people) have about the world. This is one of the most basic reasons for performing research.

But the research process does not end when you have solved your mystery. Imagine what would happen if a detective collected enough evidence to solve a criminal case, but she never shared her solution with the authorities. Presenting what you have learned from research can be just as important as performing the research. Research results can be presented in a variety of ways, but one of the most popular—and effective—presentation forms is the research paper . A research paper presents an original thesis, or purpose statement, about a topic and develops that thesis with information gathered from a variety of sources.

If you are curious about the possibility of life on Mars, for example, you might choose to research the topic. What will you do, though, when your research is complete? You will need a way to put your thoughts together in a logical, coherent manner. You may want to use the facts you have learned to create a narrative or to support an argument. And you may want to show the results of your research to your friends, your teachers, or even the editors of magazines and journals. Writing a research paper is an ideal way to organize thoughts, craft narratives or make arguments based on research, and share your newfound knowledge with the world.

Write a paragraph about a time when you used research in your everyday life. Did you look for the cheapest way to travel from Houston to Denver? Did you search for a way to remove gum from the bottom of your shoe? In your paragraph, explain what you wanted to research, how you performed the research, and what you learned as a result.

Research Writing and the Academic Paper

No matter what field of study you are interested in, you will most likely be asked to write a research paper during your academic career. For example, a student in an art history course might write a research paper about an artist’s work. Similarly, a student in a psychology course might write a research paper about current findings in childhood development.

Having to write a research paper may feel intimidating at first. After all, researching and writing a long paper requires a lot of time, effort, and organization. However, writing a research paper can also be a great opportunity to explore a topic that is particularly interesting to you. The research process allows you to gain expertise on a topic of your choice, and the writing process helps you remember what you have learned and understand it on a deeper level.

Research Writing at Work

Knowing how to write a good research paper is a valuable skill that will serve you well throughout your career. Whether you are developing a new product, studying the best way to perform a procedure, or learning about challenges and opportunities in your field of employment, you will use research techniques to guide your exploration. You may even need to create a written report of your findings. And because effective communication is essential to any company, employers seek to hire people who can write clearly and professionally.

Writing at Work

Take a few minutes to think about each of the following careers. How might each of these professionals use researching and research writing skills on the job?

Medical laboratory technician
Small business owner
Information technology professional
Freelance magazine writer

A medical laboratory technician or information technology professional might do research to learn about the latest technological developments in either of these fields. A small business owner might conduct research to learn about the latest trends in his or her industry. A freelance magazine writer may need to research a given topic to write an informed, up-to-date article.

Think about the job of your dreams. How might you use research writing skills to perform that job? Create a list of ways in which strong researching, organizing, writing, and critical thinking skills could help you succeed at your dream job. How might these skills help you obtain that job?

Steps of the Research Writing Process

How does a research paper grow from a folder of brainstormed notes to a polished final draft? No two projects are identical, but most projects follow a series of six basic steps.

These are the steps in the research writing process:

Choose a topic.
Plan and schedule time to research and write.
Conduct research.
Organize research and ideas.
Draft your paper.
Revise and edit your paper.

Each of these steps will be discussed in more detail later in this chapter. For now, though, we will take a brief look at what each step involves.

Step 1: Choosing a Topic

As you may recall from Chapter 8 “The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?” , to narrow the focus of your topic, you may try freewriting exercises, such as brainstorming. You may also need to ask a specific research question —a broad, open-ended question that will guide your research—as well as propose a possible answer, or a working thesis . You may use your research question and your working thesis to create a research proposal . In a research proposal, you present your main research question, any related subquestions you plan to explore, and your working thesis.

Step 2: Planning and Scheduling

Before you start researching your topic, take time to plan your researching and writing schedule. Research projects can take days, weeks, or even months to complete. Creating a schedule is a good way to ensure that you do not end up being overwhelmed by all the work you have to do as the deadline approaches.

During this step of the process, it is also a good idea to plan the resources and organizational tools you will use to keep yourself on track throughout the project. Flowcharts, calendars, and checklists can all help you stick to your schedule. See Chapter 11 “Writing from Research: What Will I Learn?” , Section 11.2 “Steps in Developing a Research Proposal” for an example of a research schedule.

Step 3: Conducting Research

When going about your research, you will likely use a variety of sources—anything from books and periodicals to video presentations and in-person interviews.

Your sources will include both primary sources and secondary sources . Primary sources provide firsthand information or raw data. For example, surveys, in-person interviews, and historical documents are primary sources. Secondary sources, such as biographies, literary reviews, or magazine articles, include some analysis or interpretation of the information presented. As you conduct research, you will take detailed, careful notes about your discoveries. You will also evaluate the reliability of each source you find.

Step 4: Organizing Research and the Writer’s Ideas

When your research is complete, you will organize your findings and decide which sources to cite in your paper. You will also have an opportunity to evaluate the evidence you have collected and determine whether it supports your thesis, or the focus of your paper. You may decide to adjust your thesis or conduct additional research to ensure that your thesis is well supported.

Remember, your working thesis is not set in stone. You can and should change your working thesis throughout the research writing process if the evidence you find does not support your original thesis. Never try to force evidence to fit your argument. For example, your working thesis is “Mars cannot support life-forms.” Yet, a week into researching your topic, you find an article in the New York Times detailing new findings of bacteria under the Martian surface. Instead of trying to argue that bacteria are not life forms, you might instead alter your thesis to “Mars cannot support complex life-forms.”

Step 5: Drafting Your Paper

Now you are ready to combine your research findings with your critical analysis of the results in a rough draft. You will incorporate source materials into your paper and discuss each source thoughtfully in relation to your thesis or purpose statement.

When you cite your reference sources, it is important to pay close attention to standard conventions for citing sources in order to avoid plagiarism , or the practice of using someone else’s words without acknowledging the source. Later in this chapter, you will learn how to incorporate sources in your paper and avoid some of the most common pitfalls of attributing information.

Step 6: Revising and Editing Your Paper

In the final step of the research writing process, you will revise and polish your paper. You might reorganize your paper’s structure or revise for unity and cohesion, ensuring that each element in your paper flows into the next logically and naturally. You will also make sure that your paper uses an appropriate and consistent tone.

Once you feel confident in the strength of your writing, you will edit your paper for proper spelling, grammar, punctuation, mechanics, and formatting. When you complete this final step, you will have transformed a simple idea or question into a thoroughly researched and well-written paper you can be proud of!

Review the steps of the research writing process. Then answer the questions on your own sheet of paper.

In which steps of the research writing process are you allowed to change your thesis?
In step 2, which types of information should you include in your project schedule?
What might happen if you eliminated step 4 from the research writing process?

Key Takeaways

People undertake research projects throughout their academic and professional careers in order to answer specific questions, share their findings with others, increase their understanding of challenging topics, and strengthen their researching, writing, and analytical skills.
The research writing process generally comprises six steps: choosing a topic, scheduling and planning time for research and writing, conducting research, organizing research and ideas, drafting a paper, and revising and editing the paper.

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Peer-reviewed

Research Article

Disadvantages in preparing and publishing scientific papers caused by the dominance of the English language in science: The case of Colombian researchers in biological sciences

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliations Department of Catalan Philology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain, Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California, United States of America, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, California, United States of America

Valeria Ramírez-Castañeda

Published: September 16, 2020
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238372
Peer Review
Reader Comments

The success of a scientist depends on their production of scientific papers and the impact factor of the journal in which they publish. Because most major scientific journals are published in English, success is related to publishing in this language. Currently, 98% of publications in science are written in English, including researchers from English as a Foreign Language (EFL) countries. Colombia is among the countries with the lowest English proficiency in the world. Thus, understanding the disadvantages that Colombians face in publishing is crucial to reducing global inequality in science. This paper quantifies the disadvantages that result from the language hegemony in scientific publishing by examining the additional costs that communicating in English creates in the production of articles. It was identified that more than 90% of the scientific articles published by Colombian researchers are in English, and that publishing in a second language creates additional financial costs to Colombian doctoral students and results in problems with reading comprehension, writing ease and time, and anxiety. Rejection or revision of their articles because of the English grammar was reported by 43.5% of the doctoral students, and 33% elected not to attend international conferences and meetings due to the mandatory use of English in oral presentations. Finally, among the translation/editing services reviewed, the cost per article is between one-quarter and one-half of a doctoral monthly salary in Colombia. Of particular note, we identified a positive correlation between English proficiency and higher socioeconomic origin of the researcher. Overall, this study exhibits the negative consequences of hegemony of English that preserves the global gap in science. Although having a common language is important for science communication, generating multilinguistic alternatives would promote diversity while conserving a communication channel. Such an effort should come from different actors and should not fall solely on EFL researchers.

Citation: Ramírez-Castañeda V (2020) Disadvantages in preparing and publishing scientific papers caused by the dominance of the English language in science: The case of Colombian researchers in biological sciences. PLoS ONE 15(9): e0238372. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238372

Editor: Emmanuel Manalo, Kyoto University, JAPAN

Received: March 11, 2020; Accepted: August 5, 2020; Published: September 16, 2020

Copyright: © 2020 Valeria Ramírez-Castañeda. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: All relevant data are within the manuscript and its Supporting Information files. Including complete survey questions and results.

Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Introduction

At the same time that scientific articles became the measure of scientific productivity, English was imposed as the language of science, culture, and the global economy [ 1 ]. As a consequence, today 98% of publications in science are written in English, especially in the areas of natural and basic sciences, establishing English as the lingua franca of science [ 1 ]. This creates a disadvantage for scientists with English as a Foreign Language (EFL) because they must publish complex texts in a foreign language to advance their careers [ 2 ]. This disadvantage gives rise to global inequalities, especially in countries where the majority of the population receives minimal English training and bilingualism with English is very low [ 3 ]. Thus, English proficiency and socioeconomic level influence scientific success, access to knowledge and expatriation, among others.

One of the most important goals for modern society is to increase scientific production from Africa, Latin America, Middle East, and developing Asia. There is a strong correlation among English proficiency, economic development, and technological innovation in terms of number of articles, number of researchers and research and development expenditure [ 4 ]. Therefore, the prevalence of the English language in the sciences deepens the inequality in knowledge production between countries with high and low English proficiency [ 5 ], maintaining the gap in scientific production between the countries of the global south or peripheral and the countries of the global north (include the G8 countries and Australia), reducing the individual scientific contributions of EFL scientists [ 6 ]. Together these factors limit the advancement of the broad scientific communities within those countries [ 7 ].

Numerous studies have identified the use of English in academia as a source of inequality and segregation in science [ 8 – 12 ]. These inequities affect the scientific community at multiple levels. In local communities of EFL countries, scientific thinking is harmed, particularly in higher education, as learning depends on cultural attitudes derived from the native language spoken by the students, and science becomes alien to their own experiences [ 13 – 15 ]. Diversity in language promotes diversity in thinking, affecting creative process and imagination; thus, the maintenance of multilingualism in science could have an impact on scientific knowledge in itself [ 14 ].

Local journals are a refuge for communication of scientific research in languages other than English, nevertheless they are often perceived as low-quality, since the most important research work is often reserved for international journals. Therefore, readers with language barriers only have access to limited studies that the researchers consider not complete, important or broad enough to be published in an international journal. Local readers often are unaware of the most significant research being conducted in their region, which has resulted in a void in information important for political decision making, environmental policies, and conservation strategies [ 16 – 18 ]. In addition, despite the importance of local knowledge, the professional success of a scientist correlates to a greater extent with their "internationalization". This constant pressure could be influencing academic migration, known as "brain drain". English learning is one of the pressure factors of migration, as it is more difficult to achieve upper English proficiency for scientists who remain in EFL countries [ 15 , 19 , 20 ].

In periphery countries there is a strong relationship between English proficiency and socioeconomic origin, thus it is important to understand the publishing costs associated with the socioeconomic origin of researchers. Among Latin America, Colombia is the second most unequal territory: in 2018 it invested only 0.24% of its GDP (Sweden investment was 2.74% of its GDP) in science, technology and innovation [ 21 ], and it has one of the lowest levels of English proficiency among the world rankings [ 4 ]. In addition, for 2019, Colombia had only 58 researchers per million inhabitants [ 22 , 23 ]. This study aims to determine if Colombian doctoral students of natural sciences face disadvantages when publishing scientific articles in English, compared to publications in their first language, and to quantify the extra work that these scientists put into writing, reading, and presenting their work in English. In addition, this study examines the impact of socioeconomic background on English proficiency and the costs it generates when publishing.

Materials and methods

In order to determine the costs of publishing in English experienced by Colombian researchers in biological sciences, 49 to academics were surveyed. These researchers completed their PhDs or are enrolled in doctoral studies and are attempting to publish. They participated in the “Implications of language in scientific publications” survey containing 44 questions in Spanish language ( S3 and S4 Files). This survey was available for two months and shared directly to researchers and on Twitter under the hashtag “#CienciaCriolla” (used between Colombian researchers). Responses were anonymous. It must be mention that the researcher’s demography in Colombia is gender, ethnic, and socioeconomic biased. Only 30.21% of natural science researchers are women [ 24 ], researchers come primarily from big cities [ 25 ], and undergrad students come mainly from middle and high socioeconomic classes [ 26 ]. Therefore, it would not have been possible to completely control for bias in who took the survey. It must be also recognized that without specific numbers for total Colombian researchers in biological sciences, 49 may not be a representative sample size from which to draw accurate statistical inferences.

Additionally, the prices offered by prestigious scientific publishers for translation (Spanish to English) and editing of scientific texts were searched to measure the economic impact in relation to a Ph.D. student salary in Colombia [ 27 – 31 ].

Survey construction

The main survey of this work, entitled “Implications of language in scientific publications,” has 44 questions divided into three sections: basic data, writing articles in English, and learning English ( S3 and S4 Files). This survey sought for the most quantitative approach as possible, however, each question is inevitably under some degree subjectivity due to human interpretation. The responses obtained were grouped for statistical analysis ( Table 1 ).

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238372.t001

Statistical analysis

Statistical analyses were performed in R v.3.6.1 [ 35 ] and data were plotted with the ggplot package [ 36 ]. To compare reading and writing between English and Spanish, time investment and the level of anxiety in conferences participation, an ANOVA was performed ( aov in package ‘stats’ v3.5.3). The margin of error was calculated with 95% confidence. An Analysis of Principal Components (PCA) was performed using the variables contained in the “English proficiency” and “Socioeconomic data” groups for reducing redundancy in the variables ( PCA in package FactorMiner v2.2). The proportion of variance explained by each principal component was reviewed, and only the first principal component was retained for each dataset, as it described 51% and 62% correspondingly of the total variation. Subsequently, a linear regression was executed with the intention of comparing these two variables, English proficiency PC1 vs socioeconomic status PC1 (using lm in package ‘stats’ v3.5.3).

Editing and translation service costs

In order to visualize the prices of English editing and translation services for scientific texts, information was sought in five of the most relevant scientific publishers [ 27 – 31 ]. The information and costs of these services are public and can be obtained through the web pages of publishers. All data were taken with respect to prices for a text of 3000 words, as that is the average length of a scientific article; searches were performed in October 2018.

These publishers offer two types of editing services, a three-day service (premium) and a one-week service (standard); both prices were used for the analysis. Only the prices for Spanish—English translations were used. Finally, these prices were compared with an average doctoral salary in Colombia [ 25 ], 947 US dollars or 3 million Colombian pesos (1 US dollar = 3.166 Colombian pesos, exchange price on January 31, 2019).

A total of 49 responses were obtained from Colombian doctoral students or doctorates in biological sciences whose first language is Spanish. From Colombians’ surveyed 92% (sd = 0.272) of their published scientific articles are in English and only 4% (sd = 0.2) of their publications were in Spanish or Portuguese. In addition, 43.5% of the doctoral students stated at least one rejection or revision of their articles because of the English grammar.

With regards to time investment, there was a significant increase in the time invested writing a scientific article in English in comparison to Spanish for survey participants ( Fig 1 ). The process of writing in Spanish takes on average 114.57 (sd = 87.77) labor hours, while in English, 211.4 (sd = 182.6) labor hours. On average, these scientists spend 96.86 labor hours more writing in English. However, 81.2% of the doctoral students stated that they prefer to write directly in English in comparison to writing in Spanish and then translating into English.

An ANOVA analysis was performed to compare the variables obtaining an F-value = 7.095 and p-value = 0.00951 **. The dotted line represents labor hours per month.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238372.g001

The need for editing or translation of scientific texts is widespread among Colombian doctoral students. Among the respondents, 93.9% have asked for favors to edit their English and 32.7% have asked for translation favors. Regarding the use of paid services, 59.2% have paid for editing their articles and 28.6% have paid for a translation.

The Premium editing total cost and the standard translation cost represent almost a half of an average doctoral monthly salary in Colombia ( Fig 2 ).

The Y axis is the price of the service in US dollars, the X axis represents the type of service, the standard or premium service corresponds to the delivery days. The dotted line represents an average Ph.D salary in Colombia ($ 947).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238372.g002

Reading comprehension is also affected by the language of the text ( Fig 3 ). However, only 18% of respondents prefer to read scientific articles in Spanish than in English. On the other hand, neither the interpretation of figures nor the understanding of scientific terminology is affected by the reading language.

A Poisson regression was used to analyze these discrete ordinal variants (Qualification from 1 to 5). A Chi-squared test was performed between languages for each category: interpretation of figures (Z-value = 0.756, Pr (Chi) = 0.09754), understanding of scientific terminology (z-value = 0.143, Pr (Chi) = 0.4619) and reading comprehension (z-value = 1.427, Pr (Chi) = 0.01209 *).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238372.g003

To analyze the difficulty of writing scientific articles in two languages, survey participants were also asked how they found it difficult to write different sections of articles: introduction, methods, results, discussion, and conclusions. In all cases, survey participants found the discussion was the most difficult section to write, while the methods were perceived as "easier" ( Fig 4 ). Overall, all sections except methods are perceived as significantly "more difficult" to write in English than in the participant’s first language.

A Poisson regression and Chi-square test was carried out: Introduction (z-value = 9.325, Pr (Chi) = 0.0158 *), methods (z-value = 3.046, Pr (Chi) = 0.07057), results (z-value = 4.899, Pr (Chi) = 0.04397 *), discussion (z-value = 11.732, Pr (Chi) = 0.02384 *), and conclusion (z-value = 7.688, Pr (Chi) = 0.03956 *).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238372.g004

With regard to the use of English in oral presentations at international events and conferences, 33% of respondents stated that they have stopped attending due to the mandatory use of English in oral presentations. Additionally, greater anxiety was perceived when presenting papers orally in English than in Spanish ( Fig 5 ).

A Poisson regression was used to analyze discrete ordinal variants (Anxiety level from 1 to 5). A Chi-square test was carried out (z-value = 8,882, Pr (Chi) = 0.005419 **).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238372.g005

In order to determine whether or not the socioeconomic origin of doctoral students affects their proficiency in English and in turn increases the costs of publishing in English, an analysis of principal components was used reduce survey data related to socioeconomic background or English proficiency into single variables because both represent more than the 50% of the whole variance. For the following analyzes: 1) English proficiency is represented by PC1_English_proficiency, which explains 51% of the variance of the survey variables that are related to this subject (see methods ), 2) the socioeconomic status is represented by PC1_Socioeconomic_status, which represents 62% of the variance of the variables of the survey that were related to this denomination (see methods ). The socioeconomic status explains 15% of the English proficiency of researchers ( Fig 6 ), which means that family and economic resources are partly translated into more proficient English.

Principle components representing socioeconomic status and English proficiency are significantly correlated (R2 = 0.1548, adjusted R2 = 0.1368, F = 8.605, p-value = 0.005168 **).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238372.g006

Many of the factors relating to publishing in English assessed in our study represent substantial costs in time, finances, productivity, and anxiety to Colombian researchers. Interestingly, the researchers appear to prefer to read and write articles in English and the scientific terminology do not represent an additional cost for Colombian researchers. In addition, a correlation between the socioeconomic status and English proficiency was found, suggesting an intersectional effect of language in science. These results can be extrapolated to understand costs of the English hegemony to all South American researchers, that in part contributes to a global gap between native English-speaking scientists (NES) and EFL scientists. This gap makes apparent the necessity of recognizing and protecting multilingualism in science. Although having common language is important for science communication, this effort should involve different actors in the research community and not only EFL researchers’ effort.

Our results show that several factors could lead to disadvantages of EFL researchers. The time investment in writing an article in English, for example, increases on average by 96.86 labor hours. This variable was not directly measured; it is based on the subjective perception of time of each person. However, as Guardiano and collaborators [ 37 ] suggest, this extra cost affects the time spent on scientific tasks, decreasing the scientific productivity of researchers. Regarding the economic costs, between 50% and 30% of respondents have hired services to correct or translate scientific texts. To contextualize the cost of these services, a doctoral student should invest one-quarter to one-half doctoral monthly salary per article. It should be taken into account that scholarships and financing opportunities for doctoral students in the country are scarce [ 38 ], and not all of them have access to the forgivable loans provided by governmental institutions. More than 90% of researchers have asked for English-editing favors, but favors are unpaid labor that may have subsequent costs. The cost of this favor particularly leans on the weakest in the relationship, in this case, the EFL researchers because their career depends on publishing in a second language. Therefore, ensuring a permanent source of “favors” is essential for an EFL researcher that is willing to negotiate for “help” by reinforcing dependence with research groups or scientists in NES countries [ 8 ]. Romero-Olivares [ 39 ] exemplified this point by showing a reviewer comment “The authors need a native English-speaking co-author to thoroughly revise the grammar of this manuscript.”, or as Ordoñez-Matamoros et al [ 40 ] mention for Colombian researchers “co-authoring with partners located in foreign countries tend to publish their work in journals of higher impact factor and receive more citations per article than those not co-authoring with partners located overseas”.

Around 80% of the respondents prefer to read and write scientific content directly in English. However, this result could be interpretable as “obligation” rather than as "preference" because of the monolingualism of scientific readings and the pressure to publish in international journals, and therefore in English [ 37 ]. A scientist’s preference for reading and writing in English could also be due to the prevalence of English as the source for scientific words and phrases, as well as the scientist’s need to improve their own English in order to overcome these other barriers [ 41 ]. The preference of writing directly in English and not translating may be related to the higher cost of translation in comparison with the revision service ( Fig 2 ). Additionally, scientists are more likely to request a favor for English editing than for a translation [ 37 ]. Strong feelings of insecurity or an "inferiority complex" generated by scientific writing in English is one of the most important segregation factors mentioned by EFL speaking researchers and increase the need of constant editing or correction [ 8 , 10 , 42 ]. This difficulty or insecurity is augmented in the introduction and discussion sections of an article [ 12 , 43 – 46 ]. However, the “materials and methods” section in an article and understanding scientific terminology are equally understood and used in both languages by the respondents, possibly because most words and expressions in modern science are coined in English [ 47 ].

In this study, 43.5% of surveyed researchers reported suffering from rejection or revisions because of aspects related to grammar or style in English writing. Coates [ 48 ] shows that there is a greater probability of manuscript rejection by a journal if there are grammatical errors, but Lindsey and Crusan [ 49 ] found that seems to be the ethnicity of the EFL researchers but not the grammar that is influencing the text evaluation. Some critical voices disagree with the reviewers’ bias hypothesis [ 50 ]. This subject is still under controversy, and in this paper, without comparing this trend with native speakers, it is not possible to conclude that rejection because of English writing is worse for EFL researchers. To start to unravel this bias hypothesis, it will be necessary to gather primary data about correlations between the quality of the article and impressions from reviewers on the writing of EFL researchers (with and without ethnicity information). Nevertheless, understanding reviewer comments is more difficult for a EFL speaking author, since these frequently contain expressions, euphemisms, or colloquialisms that are not easily interpreted by EFL speakers [ 51 , 52 ]. For this reason, several authors call on reviewers to write comments that contribute and guide the use of English, and that does not discourage or criticize EFL authors for the lack of mastery of the language [ 39 , 42 , 53 ]. On the other hand, “not every native English speaker is competent to solve peculiarities in the grammar and style of the “good” use of academic English”, therefore, all scientists have been pressured to use editing services [ 54 ]. In other words, it is questionable to judge or reject innovations or scientific research by linguistic factors or with the excuse of linguistic factors. If a particular research is important for the scientific community, the journal or other resources must assume the cost and effort of translation or editing services, shifting the costs from individual scientists to the publishers or the community.

It was expected that additional costs for Colombian researchers would be found, since similar findings have been reported from other EFL speaking countries in the world [ 11 , 12 , 37 , 43 , 55 , 56 ]. Despite the lack of specific studies on this subject across Latin America, a few exceptions showed similar results: “Regression analysis established that variables of science writing burden contribute to a sense that English is a barrier to scientific writing” [ 11 , 12 ]. Additionally, opinion pieces from Latin-American researchers also agree about the linguistic barrier in science [ 39 , 57 ]. It is possible to assume that these results can be extrapolated to other countries bordering Colombia, given the similarity in proficiency and access to English, shared first language, low state investment in science and technology, and parallel political history with the US and Europe [ 11 , 58 , 59 ]. The results could even be extrapolated to other peripheral countries of the world, as Hanauer et al. [ 12 ] found similar disadvantages over doctoral students from two countries on different continents, Mexico, and Taiwan.

In this study we not only explore the impact that English proficiency has on doctoral students or post-doctoral researchers, but how those impacts are influenced by the researcher's socioeconomic origin. A positive relationship (R 2 = 0.14) was found between English proficiency and socioeconomic status, which is supported by previous studies [ 60 ], hence maintaining in science the patterns of social segregation at national and global levels. This low correlation could be explained by a pre-existing socioeconomic bias in Colombia where most undergrad students come from middle and high socioeconomic classes [ 25 , 26 ]. Another fact that could affect this percentage is the PCA analysis because English proficiency was calculated taking into account years living in English-speaking countries and the percentage of English spoken every day. Therefore, if the researcher lives outside Colombia and speaks English every day the score is higher.

This low correlation, could be explained by the pre-existing socioeconomically biased in Colombia where most undergrad students come from middle and high socioeconomic classes [ 25 , 26 ]. Another fact that could affect this percentage is the PCA analysis because the English proficiency was calculated taking into account years living in English-speaking countries and the percentage of English spoke every day. Therefore, if the researcher lives outside Colombia and speaks English every day the score is higher.

This study finds that the system within science that denotes English as the lingua franca reinforces inequities between scientists from NES and EFL speaking countries, as well as socioeconomic inequities within countries that primarily speak a language other than English. Globalizing science, so far, has meant offering greater advantages to English speakers at the expense of another scientists’ prosperity in the world. Science at present, due to different pressures, opts for English as the only language acceptable for scientific communication, however, some researchers still value the protection of multilingualism in science [ 44 , 61 ]. Defending multilingualism as an alternative in science would promote the reduction of international and social inequities, which would ultimately boost what Segatto [ 62 ] has called "a radically plural world". The homogenization of language in science with the excuse of “integration” is an expression of the elimination of diversity, and this can have consequences not only on the human diversity that makes science but on the diversity of scientific questions that arise [ 17 ].

The convenience of a common language in science must be recognized; however, it is essential that solutions to this problem involve scientists from a variety of backgrounds through a bilateral effort (EFL speaking scientists and NES speaking scientists) [ 10 , 16 ]. Although research is a collective process, the proposed solutions so far have leaned on individual investment, which creates barriers to performing science that more greatly affect researchers of lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Universities, publishers, translation technology, conferences, among others, must also commit to generate ideas for change [ 17 , 37 ]. One potential approach would be to increase the perceived value of publishing in regional or smaller journals regardless of impact factors (IFs), in order to reduce the pressure to publish in the most prestigious and monolingual journals [ 6 , 63 ]. Publishing in high IFs journals is a symbolic capital that delineates what should be “desired” as the maximum “goal” of any scientist. In terms of self-identification, not being able to publish in these journals increases the feeling of incompetence and insignificancy [ 64 ]. The value given to these IFs journals is supported by the idea that the most important and novel studies in academia are published there, however, an increasing number of voices have highlighted the relative value of scientific advances. For example, differential importance between countries or local communities [ 18 ], the influence of trends and use of novel technologies in determining research value (e.g. genetic or genomic data) [ 65 ], and devaluation of important but not modern topics in biology, such as natural history and taxonomy [ 66 – 68 ]. Implementing changes in this regard must be a collective effort as we need to rethink the value of scientific publishing. Elife journal is one example of reevaluating standards in a scientific journal [ 64 ]. Other ideas such as encouraging researchers either from the global south or global north who work in the global south to publish in local journals, could be also implemented.

Other alternatives include supporting journals that accept papers in several languages, promoting the inclusion of other languages in journals at the international level, incorporating revision or translation services in all fees paid to publish an article and providing these services to all scientists at no additional charge to them, establishing multilingual annual or periodic editions in renowned journals, among others [ 37 , 57 ]. Proposals for universities and conferences include aids such as English tutoring for academic purposes [ 69 ], retaining in international conferences a space for presenting in local languages [ 17 ], using methodologies such as simultaneous translation in conferences, and generating exchange spaces in other languages, among others. Finally, it would be helpful to strengthen public available technologies such as Google Translate that allow simultaneous written translation [ 17 ]. In the future, more alternatives will arise, and it will be essential to analyze and monitor them to investigate their reception at the editorial and scientific level.

Supporting information

S1 file. complete article in spanish..

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238372.s001

S2 File. Survey questions in Spanish.

Questions in Spanish (original language) of the survey “Implications of language in scientific publications”.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238372.s002

S3 File. Survey questions in English.

Questions in English of the survey “Implications of language in scientific publications”.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238372.s003

S4 File. Raw data.

Raw data obtained from the Survey in Spanish (original language).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238372.s004

S5 File. Theorical framework.

Short explanation of English as lingua franca in Science, English as a foreign language in Colombia and Implication of English in Science (in English and Spanish).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238372.s005

Acknowledgments

Thanks to the researchers who completed the surveys or helped to share the survey. To Maria Carme Junyent Figueras for being the master thesis director that leads to this paper. To Pere Francesch Rom, Henry Arenas, Prof. Francesc Bernat, Prof. David Bueno and Prof. Avel·lí for editing and making suggestions on the original manuscript in Spanish. To the developers of Google Translate for creating a free powerful tool to translate in the first place the manuscript. To Rebecca Tarvin, Danny Jackson and Tyler Douglas and for editing and commenting on the manuscript in English.

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22. UNESCO. “How much does your county invest in RnD?” [Internet]. 2016 [cited 26 Aug 2019]. Available: http://uis.unesco.org/apps/visualisations/research-and-development-spending/
23. La República. Investigadores con doctorado asociados a Colciencias aumentaron 21% desde 2013. 9 Jan 2019.
25. COLCIENCIAS. La Ciencia en Cifras | COLCIENCIAS [Internet]. 2019 [cited 12 May 2019]. Available: https://www.colciencias.gov.co/la-ciencia-en-cifras
27. Wiley Editing Services. Wiley editing services: Home [Internet]. [cited 22 Nov 2018]. Available: https://wileyeditingservices.com/en/
28. Elservier Author Services. Solutions for Scientific Research and Publishing Process—Webshop | Elsevier [Internet]. [cited 22 Nov 2018]. Available: https://webshop.elsevier.com/
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33. Requena M, Radl J, Salazar L. Estratificación y Clases Sociales. Informe España 2011 Una interpretación de su realidad social. Fundación. Madrid; 2011. pp. 300–366.
34. El Congreso de Colombia. Ley 142 de 1994. Ley 142 de 1994. Diario Oficial, 41.433 Diario Oficial; 1994 p. 597.
35. R Development Core Team R. R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. Team RDC, editor. R Foundation for Statistical Computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing; 2011. p. 409. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-74686-7
38. Fajardo de la Espriella E. Entrevista Moisés Wasserman “El nivel de inversión en ciencia en Colombia es bajísimo”: Moisés Wasserman | El Heraldo. In: El heraldo [Internet]. 2019 [cited 16 May 2019]. Available: https://www.elheraldo.co/ciencia/el-nivel-de-inversion-en-ciencia-en-colombia-es-bajisimo-moises-wasserman-625700
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Tress Academic

#13: Writing journal papers: Pros and cons

June 4, 2019 by Tress Academic

In the age of information technology, should you still be writing papers with the aim of publishing them in journals? Isn’t it a long, complicated and daunting process to write a paper and get it accepted in a journal? Wouldn’t it be far more relevant to publish on the internet, on social media or other modern channels that work much faster? We’ll tell you why we think it’s still worth it to write articles for peer-reviewed journals and give you the real run-down on the pros and cons on the issue below.

With social media at everyone’s fingertips, writing journal papers seems a little old-fashioned. It can feel like something that researchers had to do before they had proper internet channels to self-publish their ideas. It appear to be outdated in this fast-moving world. Shouldn’t we publish our research instead on blogs, preprint-servers, or on websites where readers can easily and quickly access what we have to offer?

Yes, you could easily get the impression that there is no need to write and publish journal papers anymore. We have far more alternatives to communicate with our peers than ever before. Therefore, looking critically at the journal publishing process is absolutely required. There are many cons to be considered, but also many aspects that speak to the benefits of writing and publishing in journals. To fully comprehend this view, let’s first sketch the historical development of publishing journal papers before we dive into the pros and cons.

I. The historical perspective of writing for journals

1. early stages.

Writing research articles that get published in international peer-reviewed journals is not a new phenomenon, but a process that developed over several hundred years. The first journals were founded in the 17th century in France and Britain, to facilitate knowledge exchange among academics. The first peer-reviewed journal followed in the early 18th century, and by the end of this century, almost 500 peer-reviewed journals had been founded.

Prominent journals such as Nature and Science followed in the second half of the 19th century. For a more detailed overview, have a look at the Scholarly Publishing Timeline provided by AJE and the STM report on Scientific and Scholarly Journal Publishing .

2. Mid-20th century

Yet, the journal paper boom first started in the mid-20th century, and in many disciplines and subjects, journals became the standard for publishing research. Since then, the writing and publishing activity has gained at lot of traction. It went from some academic associations that publish the research finding’s of their members and associates in two or three issues per year, to an industry with many professional publishers competing for academics to publish with them.

3. Transition to 21st century journal publishing

Previously, academic journals had been run and subsidised by universities and research institutes, but also now increasingly, they are operated by professional publishers which charge readers subscription fees. The first online-only journals started in the 1990s and the first Mega-Journals (like PLoS One ) in the first decade of the 2000s.

The Open Access movement also took off in the beginning of the 2000s, under which journals operate using online-only papers that are freely available for the readers, but force submission fees on the authors (see the Open Access 101 blog at Harvard University and Suber 2009 .

disadvantages of writing a research paper

4. The current situation

Today, the exact number of journals is hard to determine, as definitions vary as to what constitutes a journal, but there is an estimated number of about 30,000 scholarly peer-reviewed journals in the English language today.

Interestingly, this has led to a situation that feels as though the number of papers being published far exceeds researcher’s and society’s capacity to consume them. In 2010, estimates were that more than 50 million papers had been published since the mid-17th century, with about 2.5 million papers published annually as of 2013 (see Jinha 2010 , Plume & van Weijen 2014 , Ware & Mabe 2015 ).

II. The cons: 10 common critical points on the paper publishing process

The development of publishing as described above raises a lot of criticism from within- and outside of academia. Common points of criticism are:

publishing papers in scientific journals - cons

Writing and publishing papers in journals seems to be an elite activity. Only the best really make it in. Not everybody can access it. It seems to contradict the idea of research being free and open to everybody.

2. Expensive

Publishing papers in journals is expensive, due to the high author fees and the amount of time that goes into preparing papers.

The process from writing the paper until reading it in the journal can take a very long time.

4. Lower quality

It seems that (young) researchers are forced to publish with quantity in mind rather than quality. We see more papers of lower quality due to the high pressures to publish from institutions.

5. Too many papers

With the publishing of so many papers per year, nobody can read them all. Getting papers into journals has become a goal of its own.

The paper selection process can be biased and journals may prefer some people and subjects to others.

7. Lack of transparency

The paper selection process for journal publication does not seem objective or transparent as to which papers getting accepted and which ones are rejected.

8. Old-fashioned

Writing and publishing papers represents an old-fashioned mode of science communication.

9. Non-interactive

Publishing in journals gives poor possibilities for interaction and comments.

10. Commercial

Publishing journal articles has become a business where academics seem to work for free with others gaining the benefits.

No question, these are critical points that need to be discussed and considered by academia. A lot of people play a role in the business of science communication. A good overview on the controversies s on the business and directional side of publishing academic results is available in the Editorial “Publish or Perish?” by Rawat & Meena (2014) or in the report “Untangling Academic Publishing” by Fyfe and colleagues (2017).

However, we don’t want to dive into this discussion here, but instead focus on reasons it is still worth investing time to write papers and get them published in journals for individual researchers who work in the current academic system. If you are a young researcher searching for a job, a prolongation of a contract, or to build a reputation, the situation looks quite different. You might need to deal with the system as it is, otherwise you won’t be able to pursue an academic career.

III. The pros: 10 reasons why you should write and publish journal papers

Let us give you 10 reasons here why writing papers for journals is still worth doing.

publishing papers in scientific journals pros

1. Quality control

Submitting your paper to a peer-reviewed journal means that your manuscript will be scrutinised by experts in your field who can help you to eliminate the paper’s weak points. They will look through your paper and check its quality. Once approved by the reviewers and editor, your paper has passed a relevant threshold and is considered of a certain academic quality. You know now, your work is good enough to be published.

2. Quality label

Once revised and accepted, your work gets an invisible quality stamp. Your paper, your research, and you will benefit from this label saying “good work!” You can take this quality label with you wherever you go and it will testify to your qualifications and excellence. A paper can help you to get your name out in a field of research and the increasing number of papers that you publish will help to build your reputation.

3. Trusted source

Getting your work published in an academic journal tells your peers that your work was good enough to pass the expert’s quality check and therefore it is considered a trustworthy source. It adds a lot to the credibility of your research when it gets published in a journal. Researchers prefer trusted sources.

4. Academic career development

If your personal plan is to aim for a career in academia, as a researcher, lecturer, or any other scientific position at a university, research/higher education institute, then journal papers will be your currency to gain and keep such a job. These institutions face the battle of rankings. Their long-term existence and their reputation is built on performing well in the competition with other academic institutions. If you are a researcher who has published a lot, then you will help them to reach and keep a good ranking. You are an employee that is an asset for the university.

5. Non-academic career development

Even if you are heading towards a career outside academia, a good publication record can be helpful. Every employer is keen on having an employee who is productive. Any paper you have is more than a line on your CV, but signals that you can complete work, get it through a quality control process and out to its users. You show you produce a measurable outcome and can stand out in competition.

6. Funding body requirement

Having a paper put in a journal is not an add-on at the end of your research project, but very often an essential requirement by the agency providing the funds for your research. Research projects are asked to feed back their findings to the academic community and journal papers are considered to be the appropriate medium to do so. If you publish in journals, you tick this box.

7. Attracting grants

As a researcher, you will face the need to write applications and proposals to research councils in order to get the funding for your research. The chances of your bid getting accepted will substantially rise if you can refer to a portfolio of published papers in the subject area of the grant you apply for.

8. Get acknowledged

Getting a paper accepted, having the printed version in hand or seeing your name on the PDF version is a great feeling. It is a – very quiet – shout of ‘’bravo” from your peers. It feels like a clap on your shoulder, when your colleagues tell you that you have done well. It is very satisfying and it boosts your confidence. If you made it once, your way of working is commended and you will likely publish again. A paper is also something that you can show around.

9. Established infrastructure

A large bonus of published journal papers is that you don’t have to worry about the medium of getting your message out. You don’t need to think about finding the right platform to place your research findings, or about the technical reliability of its system. You don’t need to worry about announcing, advertising or marketing your paper yourself; journals and publishers take this part over for you and do a pretty good job to get your research out to your peers.

10. Established way of communication

Last but not least, a journal publication has the large advantage for you as being the established way of academic communication and exchange of research findings. We all are used to looking for and consuming journal papers. We all know how it works to find papers and which journals are most relevant for us. The dissemination and accessibility of papers published in journals seems to work generally fine, despite all the paywall systems and barriers that are erected by publishers to stop free distribution of papers. Most academics still seem to find a way to get a hold of your paper once it is published if they really want to. Writing and publishing papers is also a main avenue for academics to find and establish communication with their peers.

Conclusion:

The pros and cons of writing and publishing papers might be contentious. There is nothing perfect about the system, and for you, there may be not black and white answer of the right or wrong thing to do. We hope our overview of the 10 pros and cons to publishing in journals gives you a better understanding of the discussion.

Our view is that you should start and keep on writing for journals because the pros definitely outweigh the cons. The reward for your professional life can be tremendous. Clearly, academia needs to critically observe the ongoing development of the publishing circus, and it would be good if clear directions would be developed. Yet, we do not see journal publications as being in competition to other forms of making research results available to the public.

We advise you to also make use of other modern communication channels parallel to publishing in journals such as social media, blogs and others to communicate your research. But, particularly if you are striving for an academic career, journal publications are inevitable and will help you to progress quickly towards the career track of your choice.

Relevant resources:

Smart Academics Blog #62: Twenty things you should know when writing a journal paper
Smart Academics Blog #38: Why you need a publishing strategy
Smart Academics Blog #36: 5 tips to get a paper accepted this year
Smart Academics Blog #5: How to get started with writing papers.
Fyfe, A., Coate, K., Curry, S., Lawson, S., Moxham, N., Røstvik, C.M. 2017. Untangling Academic Publishing: A history of the relationship between commercial interests, academic prestige and the circulation of research. Zenodo.
Harvard University 2006. Open Access 101.
Jinha, A. E. 2010. Article 50 million: An estimate of the number of scholarly articles in existence. Learned Publishing. 23 (3): 258–263. doi :10.1087/20100308.
Plume, A., & van Weijen, D. 2014. Publish or perish? The rise of the fractional author …. Research Trends, (38).
Rawat, S., Meena, S., 2014. Publish or perish: Where are we heading? Journal of Research in Medical Sciences 19(2): 87–89.
Suber, P. 2009. Timeline of the Open Access Movement.
Ware, M., Mabe, M. 2015. The STM Report: An overview of scientific and scholarly journal publishing (PDF) (4th ed.). International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers.

More information:

Do you want to write a journal paper? If so, please sign up to receive our free guides.

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Disadvantages in preparing and publishing scientific papers caused by the dominance of the English language in science: The case of Colombian researchers in biological sciences

Valeria Ramírez-Castañeda

1 Department of Catalan Philology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

2 Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California, United States of America

3 Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, California, United States of America

Associated Data

All relevant data are within the manuscript and its Supporting Information files. Including complete survey questions and results.

Introduction

Materials and methods

Survey construction

Statistical analysis

Editing and translation service costs

An external file that holds a picture, illustration, etc.
Object name is pone.0238372.g001.jpg

An ANOVA analysis was performed to compare the variables obtaining an F-value = 7.095 and p-value = 0.00951 **. The dotted line represents labor hours per month.

The Premium editing total cost and the standard translation cost represent almost a half of an average doctoral monthly salary in Colombia ( Fig 2 ).

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Object name is pone.0238372.g002.jpg

An external file that holds a picture, illustration, etc.
Object name is pone.0238372.g003.jpg

An external file that holds a picture, illustration, etc.
Object name is pone.0238372.g004.jpg

An external file that holds a picture, illustration, etc.
Object name is pone.0238372.g005.jpg

A Poisson regression was used to analyze discrete ordinal variants (Anxiety level from 1 to 5). A Chi-square test was carried out (z-value = 8,882, Pr (Chi) = 0.005419 **).

An external file that holds a picture, illustration, etc.
Object name is pone.0238372.g006.jpg

Principle components representing socioeconomic status and English proficiency are significantly correlated (R2 = 0.1548, adjusted R2 = 0.1368, F = 8.605, p-value = 0.005168 **).

Supporting information

Questions in Spanish (original language) of the survey “Implications of language in scientific publications”.

Questions in English of the survey “Implications of language in scientific publications”.

Raw data obtained from the Survey in Spanish (original language).

Short explanation of English as lingua franca in Science, English as a foreign language in Colombia and Implication of English in Science (in English and Spanish).

Acknowledgments

Funding Statement

The author(s) received no specific funding for this work.

Data Availability

PLoS One. 2020; 15(9): e0238372.

Decision Letter 0

Transfer alert.

This paper was transferred from another journal. As a result, its full editorial history (including decision letters, peer reviews and author responses) may not be present.

29 Apr 2020

PONE-D-20-06485

Disadvantages of writing, reading, publishing and presenting scientific papers caused by the dominance of the English language in science: The case of Colombian Ph.D. in biological sciences

Dear Ramirez-Castaneda,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that systematically addresses all the points raised by the three reviewers during the review process (see below).

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Reviewer #3: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: No

4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: This is an interesting article with a great deal of potential but I think the authors need to consider some of the claims they are making a little more carefully. The title needs rethinking. It could be shorter and clearer. I was also puzzled by the phrase Colombian PhD. It appears the authors are referring to academics who have just completed their PhDs or are enrolled in doctoral studies in biological sciences and are attempting to publish. This should be spelt out clearly in the article and we need more information about the participants.

It would have been a good idea to attach the survey used in the research as it is difficult to judge how appropriate and useful questions are from a summary. I did not find Table 1 particularly useful, in fact, in places it was very confusing. The problem with this kind of survey is that very often the devil is in the detail. For example, some articles are more difficult to write than others simply because of the nature of the article. However, I accept that writing in a second language is far more time-consuming.

The authors claim that English translating and editing services are expensive and I accept this. However, on p.9 it is said that "43.5% Of the doctoral students stated at least one rejection or revision of their articles because of the English grammar". The literature shows that a number of L2 authors believe that their articles are rejected because of their English grammar. However, the evidence to back this up is not convincing, and many editors (and reviewers) contest this strongly. It appears likely that there might well be unconscious bias at least on the part of L1 reviewers and editors, but there is also a fair amount of evidence in the literature to indicate that some of the articles might simply not be up to scratch. The authors revisit this point on p.14. I suggest they read more widely in the area and hedge their claims in this regard. There is simply not enough evidence to back up what they are saying.

The authors make some good points in the discussion. One of the points they raised is the cost of "favours". This is an interesting point but they need to expand on what they mean by the social cost of favours.

On p.16 the authors propose reducing the perceived value of publishing in journals with high impact factors. I would like this to be thought through a little more clearly. If the value of publishing in these journals is reduced then their influence is also reduced. If they are publishing high-quality research is this really in the best interests of the Academy? Also, how could/would this be implemented? The idea of including multiple languages in journals is also an interesting one but this also needs to be thought about in greater detail. It could very easily turn into a politically correct exercise where a few odd articles not written in English are simply inserted. The authors also need to take into account that the most prestigious journals do not charge for publication so where would the money come from to pay for translation services? The journals would need to look to the publishing houses.

Reviewer #2: I think this is a great article investigating a critically important issue in academia – language barriers to early career researches in the Global South. I enjoyed reading it and only have some minor comments, which you can find below.

L51: Johnson et al 2018 – is this an appropriate reference here?

L64: number of researches – should this be the number of researchers?

L69: Note that there is a similar language-driven inequality even within countries in the Global North.

L87: this kind of knowledge – what kind of knowledge? Please elaborate this a bit more.

L86-91: This sentence is very long and I would suggest separating it into two or three.

L94: expatriation – I am not sure if this is a right word. How about “brain drain”?

L101: I don’t think this is an issue only for doctoral students, so the description should be generalised like “… with the socioeconomic origin of researchers”.

L115: This could be my biggest and only concern on this study – how were these 49 doctoral students selected? This kind of surveys needs to avoid any biases (e.g., in gender, socioeconomic status, or any other factors potentially affecting results) in samples as much as possible. The authors need to explain the selection process in more detail and also provide justification that the results did not suffer from effects of those potential biases in samples.

L203-205: This part was a little unclear. How about “To analyze the difficulty of writing scientific articles in two languages, survey participants were also asked how they found it difficult to write different sections of articles: introduction, methods, results, discussion and conclusions.”?

L247-249: The author needs to explain a little more about why these results can be extrapolated to all South American researchers.

L270-273: Little unclear. Please rephrase this part.

L283: I couldn’t understand which part of Fig 2 shows “the cost of translation service that is three times the service for revision”. According to Fig2, translation costs ~500 while standard editing costs ~ 270.

L296: Also see this relevant article: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2010.07.001

Figs 1 and 2: Avoid using the red-green combination for colour-blind friendliness.

Fig. 2: Y-axis should start from 0 so that we can compare these costs with the average PhD salary (green line) properly.

Fig. 4: I would suggest reordering these so that the introduction is on the left, followed by methods, results, discussion and conclusion towards right.

The journal seems to require authors to make all data fully available but I couldn’t find the data on the survey result.

Reviewer #3: Being a native speaker of Spanish myself, I find this type of articles particularly interesting for personal reasons. I totally agree with the author in the fact that there is a not so small linguistic barrier when it comes to scientific publications for those of us who are not native speakers of English. On a personal note, I must confess I was about to write this review in Spanish, just as a proof of both the need and the usefulness of using such language in academic environments.

Having said this, I will highlight the ‘global English accent’ I can perceive while reading the paper. That is the reason why I will not point out minor mistakes, or maybe I should call them deviations from the standard, that appear in the author’s written expression. Global English is definitely an issue to be mentioned and, more importantly, a theoretical aspect that needs to be addressed deeper than it is in its current version. The use of global English nowadays and the fact that most English speakers worldwide are not native is another reason why proofreading becomes controversial: according to which English standards is the paper proofread? Why should American or British standards be considered higher level than global English, and where is the border line among them?

Although my suggestion to the Editor is to publish this paper with some revisions, there is still a major issue concerning the number of participants in the study. 49 participants is, for a quantitative study using questionnaires, a rather small sample with very little statistical impact. I find it surprising that only 15% of the English proficiency is explained by socioeconomic factors; maybe these data is consequence of the small sample.

In any case, and if the finding of new participants is not feasible at this point of the study, there is something that really needs to be included (as I haven’t seen it as such), and that is a theoretical framework. Following my recommendations aforementioned, I strongly recommend the author to include a section before the Methodology or in the Discussion in which she addresses the most relevant aspects of global English. Global English is the reason why this paper should be published and it seems to have been ignored in the process.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #3: No

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Author response to Decision Letter 0

17 Jun 2020

Manuscript PONE-D-20-06485

Response to reviewers

Dear Dr. Emmanuel Manalo,

I sincerely appreciate the opportunity to resubmit a revised draft of the manuscript PONE-D-20-06485 for publication in the PLOS ONE journal. Additionally, I would like to thank the journal and reviewers for your valuable feedback and comments. I have incorporated most of the suggestions made by the reviewers. Changes are tracked in the revised manuscript. Please see below, in blue, the response to the journal requirements and reviewers’ comments and concerns.

1. Please ensure that your manuscript meets PLOS ONE's style requirements, including those for file naming.

Author response: I sincerely apologize for the lack of attention in the style requirements. I have made several changes in the file naming, reference style, headings, among others. I hope these changes address all the requirements.

Author response: Thank you, the survey in English was attached in the Supplementary Information.

Author response: Sorry for the inconvenience. I have now attached the survey’s raw data as supporting information following the General guidelines for human research participant data (location and birth date were deleted). The raw data was attached in the original language of the survey. Please let me know if you need a translation of the raw data.

4. We note that Figure 7 in your submission contains copyrighted images. All PLOS content is published under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which means that the manuscript, images, and Supporting Information files will be freely available online, and any third party is permitted to access, download, copy, distribute, and use these materials in any way, even commercially, with proper attribution. For more information, see our copyright guidelines: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/licenses-and-copyright .

Author response: This figure was removed from the manuscript.

Reviewer #1

This is an interesting article with a great deal of potential but I think the authors need to consider some of the claims they are making a little more carefully.

Author response: Thank you! I hope I addressed your comments adequately.

The title needs rethinking. It could be shorter and clearer.

Author response: Thanks for pointing this out. To address your comment, I have changed the long title from “Disadvantages of writing, reading, publishing and presenting scientific papers caused by the dominance of the English language in science: The case of Colombian Ph.D. in biological sciences” to “Disadvantages in preparing and publishing scientific papers caused by the dominance of the English language in science: The case of Colombian researchers in biological sciences”. The last title includes the fact that the participants are either Ph.D. students or researchers with a doctoral degree.

The short title was also changed from “Consequences of English linguistic hegemony in science: The case of Colombian Ph.D. in biological sciences” to “Consequences of English linguistic hegemony in science: The case of Colombian biologist”.

I was also puzzled by the phrase Colombian PhD. It appears the authors are referring to academics who have just completed their PhDs or are enrolled in doctoral studies in biological sciences and are attempting to publish. This should be spelt out clearly in the article and we need more information about the participants.

Author response: I tried to clarified this by adding the following phrase at the beginning of the Methods section: “In order to determine the costs of publishing in English experienced by Colombian researchers in biological sciences 49 to academics were surveyed. These researchers completed their PhDs or are enrolled in doctoral studies and are attempting to publish.”

It would have been a good idea to attach the survey used in the research as it is difficult to judge how appropriate and useful questions are from a summary.

Author response: Thank you for the comment. You are right and the raw data from the survey has now been attached as supporting information in the original language (Spanish). Birthdate and location were deleted to follow the general guidelines for human research participant data.

I did not find Table 1 particularly useful, in fact, in places it was very confusing.

Author response: This table was attached to explain how the survey was organized to perform the statistical analysis which is especially crucial when performing the Principal Components Analysis. I opted to maintain table 1. However, I changed the name from “Table 1. Summary of survey questions divided by groups used for correspondent statistical analysis” to “Table 1. Grouping of survey questions in statistical analyses.”. This new title highlights that the table is explaining the groups used for statistical analysis instead of a summary of the survey questions.

The problem with this kind of survey is that very often the devil is in the detail. For example, some articles are more difficult to write than others simply because of the nature of the article. However, I accept that writing in a second language is far more time-consuming.

Author response: I agree that surveys imply a lot of subjectivity, I tried to use the most quantitative approach as possible. However, I cannot deny there is a human interpretation in each question. This issue was addressed in the methods section: “This survey sought for the most quantitative approach as possible, however, each question is inevitably under some degree of subjectivity due to human interpretation.”

Author response: I agree that there is not enough evidence, especially because there are just a few articles that actually correlate the quality of the article and impressions from reviewers on the writing (with and without ethnicity information). I found one article that tries to do something similar and they found that seems to be the ethnicity but not the grammar that is influencing the bias “Research has repeatedly shown that discrepancies continue to exist between assessments of NES and NNES writers. Our study focuses on determining whether identifying a writer as an international student contributes to such discrepancies. Our survey results suggest they do, and that such discrepancies may be due solely to the perceived ethnolinguistic identity of the writer rather than because of any measurable differences in the writing itself”(Lindsey & Crusan, 2011). Everything outside this is just people's perception and experiences. However, self-perception is important for encouraging or demoralizing EFL researchers (Romero-Olivares, 2019). The most critical voice about the bias hypothesis is Hyland’s (2016) paper, but I think that some of his ideas lack primary data support in the relationship between quality-ethnicity-grammar.

In the text, this paragraph was changed to “In this study, 43.5% of surveyed researchers reported suffering from rejection or revisions because of aspects related to grammar or style in English writing. Coates [48] shows that there is a greater probability of manuscript rejection by a journal if there are grammatical errors, but Lindsey and Crusan [49] found that it seems to be the ethnicity of the EFL researchers but not the grammar that is influencing the text evaluation. Some critical voices disagree with the reviewers’ bias hypothesis [50]. This subject is still under controversy, and in this paper, without comparing this trend with native speakers, it is not possible to conclude that rejection because of English writing is worse for EFL researchers. To start to unravel this bias hypothesis, it will be necessary to gather primary data about correlations between the quality of the article and impressions from reviewers on the writing of EFL researchers (with and without ethnicity information).”

Author response: Thank you for your comment. I added more information in the manuscript: “More than 90% of researchers have asked for English-editing favors, but favors are unpaid labor that may have a subsequent cost. The cost of this favor particularly leans on the weakest in the relationship, in this case, the EFL researchers because their career depends on publishing in a second language. Therefore, ensuring a permanent source of “favors” is essential for an EFL researcher that is willing to negotiate for “help” by reinforcing dependence with research groups or scientists in NES countries [8]. Romero-Olivares [39] exemplified this point by showing a reviewer comment “The authors need a native English-speaking co-author to thoroughly revise the grammar of this manuscript.”, or as Ordoñez-Matamoros et al [40] show for Colombian researchers “co-authoring with partners located in foreign countries tend to publish their work in journals of higher impact factor and receive more citations per article than those not co-authoring with partners located overseas”.

Author response: I agree that my intentions were not to devalue IFs of journals but increasing the value of other journals, therefore, I reframed and complemented this statement:

“One potential approach would be to increase the perceived value of publishing in regional or smaller journals regardless of impact factors (IFs), in order to reduce the pressure to publish in the most prestigious and monolingual journals [6,63]. Publishing in high IFs journals is a symbolic capital that delineates what should be “desired” as the maximum “goal” of any scientist. In terms of self-identification, not being able to publish in these journals increases the feeling of incompetence and insignificancy [64]. The value given to these IFs journals is supported by the idea that the most important and novel studies in academia are published there, however, an increasing number of voices have highlighted the relative value of scientific advances. For example, differential importance between countries or local communities [18], the influence of trends and use of novel technologies in determining research value (eg. genetic or genomic data) [65], and devaluation of important but not modern topics in biology, such as natural history and taxonomy [66–68]. Implementing changes in this regard must be a collective effort as we need to rethink the value of scientific publishing. Elife journal is one example of reevaluating standards in a scientific journal [64]. Other ideas such as encouraging researchers either from the global south or global north who work in the global south to publish in local journals, could be also implemented.”

The idea of including multiple languages in journals is also an interesting one but this also needs to be thought about in greater detail. It could very easily turn into a politically correct exercise where a few odd articles not written in English are simply inserted.

Author response: You are right, we need to think about this in more detail, taking into account costs, journals, languages to include, among others. Solutions and resources should increase while visualizing the problem. The last paragraph is dedicated to listing some ideas: “Other alternatives include supporting journals that accept papers in several languages, promoting the inclusion of other languages in journals at the international level, incorporating revision or translation services in all fees paid to publish an article and providing these services to all scientists at no additional charge to them, establishing multilingual annual or periodic editions in renowned journals, among others [37,57]. Proposals for universities and conferences include aids such as English tutoring for academic purposes [69], retaining in international conferences a space for presenting in local languages [17], using methodologies such as simultaneous translation in conferences, and generating exchange spaces in other languages, among others. Finally, it would be helpful to strengthen public available technologies such as Google Translate that allow simultaneous written translation [17]. In the future, more alternatives will arise, and it will be essential to analyze and monitor them to investigate their reception at the editorial and scientific level.”

The authors also need to take into account that the most prestigious journals do not charge for publication so where would the money come from to pay for translation services? The journals would need to look to the publishing houses.

Author response: While I may not know the most prestigious journals in the reviewer’s field, in biology, Nature, PNAS and Science are some of the journals with highest IFs, and all of them charge for publication. About the cost of translating, there are a lot of possibilities. As other difficulties that we have overcome, I am sure that if we understand the importance of increasing diversity in science, we (journals, universities, institutes, governments) could build connections with translators' services in an affordable way.

Reviewer #2:

I think this is a great article investigating a critically important issue in academia – language barriers to early career researchers in the Global South. I enjoyed reading it and only have some minor comments, which you can find below.

Author response: Thank you very much!

Author response: I agree that a different reference would be more appropriate. I changed this reference for Gordin's 2015 book where the history of language in science is fully explained (L53). Gordin MD. Scientific Babel. Scientific Babel. 2015. doi:10.7208/chicago/9780226000329.001.0001

Author response: I have corrected this typo on L66.

Author response: Absolutely right, therefore, I mention that most of the inequalities are driven by high English proficiency and I listed the countries that I referred as the global north: “Therefore, the prevalence of the English language in the sciences deepens the inequality in knowledge production between countries with high and low English proficiency [5], maintaining the gap in scientific production between the countries of the global south or peripheral and the countries of the global north (include the G8 countries and Australia)...”

Author response: I complete this sentence by adding: “Therefore, readers with language barriers only have access to limited studies that the researchers consider not complete, important or broad enough to be published in an international journal.”.

Author response: Thanks for pointing this out. I divided this paragraph into two and deleted redundant words: “Therefore, readers with language barriers only have access to limited studies that the researchers consider not complete, important or broad enough to be published in an international journal. Local readers often are unaware of the most significant research being conducted in their region, which has resulted in a void in information important for political decision making, environmental policies, and conservation strategies [16–18].”.

Author response: I have added the suggested content to the manuscript on L96.

Author response: I have added the suggested content to the manuscript on L103.

L115: This could be my biggest and only concern on this study – how were these 49 doctoral students selected? This kind of survey needs to avoid any biases (e.g., in gender, socioeconomic status, or any other factors potentially affecting results) in samples as much as possible. The authors need to explain the selection process in more detail and also provide justification that the results did not suffer from effects of those potential biases in samples.

Author response: I agree that this is a potential limitation of the study. The survey was available online for two months and it was shared personally to researchers (who also reshared the survey) and on twitter under the hashtag “CienciaCriolla” that is used between Colombian researchers. It was also anonymous, therefore, I did not select who answered them or controlled by any bias. However, controlling this data by bias is very difficult because, in Colombia, becoming a researcher is already biased. Only 30.21% of natural science researchers are women, most of the researchers come from the biggest cities in Colombia, and most of undergrad students come from middle and high socioeconomic classes.

I added this information in the Methods section: “This survey was available for two months and shared directly to researchers and on Twitter under the hashtag “#CienciaCriolla” (used between Colombian researchers). Responses were anonymous. It must be mentioned that the researcher’s demography in Colombia is gender, ethnic, and socioeconomic biased. Only 30.21% of natural science researchers are women [24], researchers come primarily from big cities [25], and undergrad students come mainly from middle and high socioeconomic classes [26]. Therefore, it would not have been possible to completely control for bias in who took the survey.”

Author response: Thank you very much for your suggestion, it was used in place of “To analyze the difficulty of writing scientific articles in two languages, survey participants were also asked how they found it difficult to write different sections of articles: introduction, methods, results, discussion, and conclusions”.

Author response: Thanks, this statement was explained later in the discussion section. However, I added additional information: “Despite the lack of specific studies on this subject across Latin America, a few exceptions showed similar results: “Regression analysis established that variables of science writing burden contribute to a sense that English is a barrier to scientific writing” [11,12]. Additionally, opinion pieces from Latin-American researchers also agree about the linguistic barrier in science [39,57]. It is possible to assume that these results can be extrapolated to other countries bordering Colombia, given the similarity in proficiency and access to English, shared first language, low state investment in science and technology, and parallel political history with the US and Europe [11,58,59]. The results could even be extrapolated to other peripheral countries of the world, as Hanauer et al. [12] found similar disadvantages over doctoral students from two countries on different continents, Mexico, and Taiwan. ”

Author response: Thank you for your comment. I rephrased it and added more information in the manuscript: “More than 90% of researchers have asked for English-editing favors, but favors are unpaid labor that may have a subsequent cost. A cost particularly leans on the weakest in the relationship, in this case, the EFL researchers because their career depends on publishing in a second language. Therefore, ensuring a permanent source of “favors” is essential for an EFL researcher that is willing to negotiate for “help” by reinforcing dependence with research groups or scientists in NES countries [8]. Romero-Olivares [39] exemplified this point by showing a reviewer comment “The authors need a native English-speaking co-author to thoroughly revise the grammar of this manuscript.”, or as Ordoñez-Matamoros et al [40] show for Colombian researchers “co-authoring with partners located in foreign countries tend to publish their work in journals of higher impact factor and receive more citations per article than those not co-authoring with partners located overseas”.

Author response: My apologies, you are right. I replaced this phrase with “The preference of writing directly in English and not translating may be related to the higher cost of translation in comparison with the revision service (Fig 2).”.

Author response: Thanks for your suggestion, I cited Clavero’s (2010) article along with Huang (2010), and Romero-Olivares (2019): “For this reason, several authors call on reviewers to write comments that contribute and guide the use of English, and that does not discourage or criticize EFL authors for the lack of mastery of the language [39,42,53]. ”

Author response: Thank you for pointing this out. I changed the green line for a dotted line in both graphs.

Author response: Thanks for pointing this out. I changed the y-axis limits in fig 2.

Author response: I agree and I rearranged the order in figure’s 4 y-axis.

Author response: Thank you for the comment. You are right and the raw data from the survey is now attached as supporting information in the original language (Spanish). Birthdate and location were deleted to follow the general guidelines for human research participant data.

Reviewer #3:

Being a native speaker of Spanish myself, I find this type of articles particularly interesting for personal reasons. I totally agree with the author in the fact that there is a not so small linguistic barrier when it comes to scientific publications for those of us who are not native speakers of English. On a personal note, I must confess I was about to write this review in Spanish, just as a proof of both the need and the usefulness of using such language in academic environments.

Author response: Muchas gracias por tu empatía y sinceridad en tu comentario.

Author response: I agree with your comment.

Author response: I understand your point. Although I did not find specific numbers for Colombian researchers in biological sciences, according to the UNESCO database in Colombia there are 58 researchers (from all career stages and all disciplines) per million inhabitants (50 million in Colombia). Doing raw calculations: 6 disciplines (social sciences, agricultural sciences, medicine, and health sciences, basic science, engineering, and natural sciences), and 4 different stages (undergrad, masters, Ph.D. student, postdoc), then we could think that less than 400 of researchers are biologists (Ph.D. students and postdoc). If the population is 400 and the sample is 49 researchers then this sample size is around 10% of the population, which is a decent sample size.

Furthermore, except for research in Spain, other authors have published similar studies with less or similar sample data or/and unspecific to biological sciences. See the following table:

Author, year

Number of researchers surveyed

Pérez-Llantada et al., 2011

Several disciplines

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2010.05.001

Karimnia, 2013

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.01.137

Huang, 2010

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2009.10.001

McGrath, 2014

Several social sciences

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2013.10.008

Murasan et al., 2014

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2013.10.009

Duszak et al., 2008

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2008.03.001

Moreno et al., 2012

http://eprints.rclis.org/29319/

Ferguson et al., 2011

300 (59 biologist)

Natural and basic sciences

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-971X.2010.01656.x

Hanuaer et al., 2019

Taiwan: 238, Mexico: 148

Taiwan and Mexico

https://doi.org/10.1177/0741088318804821

Nevertheless, I recognize that overall 49 is a small sample size from which to draw statistical inferences, and I do mention this in (line 135): “It must be also recognized that without specific numbers for total Colombian researchers in biological sciences, 49 may not be a representative sample size from which to draw accurate statistical inferences.”

I find it surprising that only 15% of the English proficiency is explained by socioeconomic factors; maybe this data is a consequence of the small sample.

Author response: Thanks for pointing this out. I definitely agree that it is surprising. I can think about two other reasons for this result: 1) In Colombia, becoming a researcher is already socioeconomically biased because most researchers come from the biggest cities in Colombia, and most undergrad students come from middle and high socioeconomic classes. 2) The PCA statistical analysis for English proficiency took into account years living in English-speaking countries and the percentage of English spoke every day. Therefore, if the researcher lives outside Colombia and speaks English every day the score is higher, even if they come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.

I added this information in the paragraph (Line 400): “This low correlation could be explained by a pre-existing socioeconomic bias in Colombia where most undergrad students come from middle and high socioeconomic classes [25,26]. Another fact that could affect this percentage is the PCA analysis because English proficiency was calculated taking into account years living in English-speaking countries and the percentage of English spoken every day. Therefore, if the researcher lives outside Colombia and speaks English every day the score is higher.”

In any case, and if the finding of new participants is not feasible at this point in the study, there is something that really needs to be included (as I haven’t seen it as such), and that is a theoretical framework. Following my recommendations aforementioned, I strongly recommend the author to include a section before the Methodology or in the Discussion in which she addresses the most relevant aspects of global English. Global English is the reason why this paper should be published and it seems to have been ignored in the process.

Author response: I understand your point. However, I believe a research paper needs to be as concise as possible and this research article is already very long. To not overwhelm the readers but address the important point that you mentioned, I added a supporting file S6 Theoretical framework. This file includes three subtitles 1) English as lingua franca in science, 2) English as a foreign language in Colombia, and 3) Implications of English in science.

Submitted filename: Response to Reviewers.pdf

Decision Letter 1

17 Aug 2020

PONE-D-20-06485R1

Dear Dr. Ramirez-Castaneda,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

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1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #2: All comments have been addressed

2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: I Don't Know

4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

6. Review Comments to the Author

Reviewer #1: (No Response)

Reviewer #2: Thank you for dealing thoroughly with my comments on the previous version. I have found most responses satisfactory and now have no major concerns.

Regarding the sample size issue, I think that the author’s response to the third comment by Reviewer #3 is very helpful (i.e., estimated number of Colombian ECRs in biology, as well as sample size in earlier similar studies), and wonder if the author wants to provide it in the main text for justifying the sample size in this study.

I again would like to commend the author for completing this important research.

7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article ( what does this mean? ). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

Reviewer #1: Yes: Pat Strauss

Reviewer #2: No

Acceptance letter

24 Aug 2020

Dear Dr. Ramirez-Castaneda:

I'm pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been deemed suitable for publication in PLOS ONE. Congratulations! Your manuscript is now with our production department.

If your institution or institutions have a press office, please let them know about your upcoming paper now to help maximize its impact. If they'll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team within the next 48 hours. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information please contact gro.solp@sserpeno .

If we can help with anything else, please email us at gro.solp@enosolp .

Thank you for submitting your work to PLOS ONE and supporting open access.

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Professor Emmanuel Manalo

Get science-backed answers as you write with Paperpal's Research feature

Self-Editing: The Pros and Cons of Editing Your Own Research Paper

Writing and editing research papers can be a daunting task for most researchers across the world. A 2018 global survey revealed that 76% of research authors struggled to prepare a polished, well-written manuscript for journal submission. 1 Academic writing and self-editing requires the ability to effectively construct coherent arguments and an understanding of the nuances of academic writing. Researchers also need to possess a good knowledge of the English language, including grammar, spelling, punctuation, and formatting styles. Most importantly, they need to edit and proofread research papers to ensure that it is error-free, engaging, impactful and submission ready.

Researchers need to put in a lot of time and effort in editing research papers. However, setting aside enough time for polishing and self-editing can be difficult for time-constrained academics juggling several tasks and deadlines. Given the financial benefits, some researchers seek out professional editing support, while others decide to give self-editing a try. The final decision between engaging professional editing services and self-editing often depends on a number of variables, including personal preferences, financial limits, time restraints, and the desired degree of quality. This article helps you makes the decision by examining the advantages and disadvantages of self-editing your research paper.

What is self-editing?

Most researchers tend to do some self-editing while they write — correcting language and grammar, including spelling and punctuation errors , adding or deleting sentences, and restructuring paragraphs and flow. So in a way self-editing is part of the process of developing and preparing research papers for submission. However, if you’re looking at editing research papers more comprehensively, then you need to take a break before you start self-editing. By taking this mental break, you’ll be more prepared for effective self-editing that helps you eliminate errors and enhance your work for submission.

Advantages of self-editing research papers

When self-editing, researchers are free to review and edit their manuscripts as they see fit and consequently, are able to fully control the process of editing research papers. Self-editing also allows researchers to perfect their academic writing abilities, improve the way their research is presented, and ensure that their arguments are coherently and cohesively communicated. Furthermore, self-editing can be both encouraging and satisfying as researchers can take complete ownership of their research paper and are able to directly mould it into its final version.

Disadvantages of self-editing and proofreading

However, researchers must also know that self-editing comes with its own limitations. For instance, academics may become too attached to their research work, which makes it difficult for them to spot errors or areas that require improvement in their own writing. They may also be blind to any biases that may have unwittingly crept into their academic writing. Moreover, self-editing relies solely on the author’s expertise, which means it may not be a good choice for researchers that are not conversant with the English language or don’t have a strong understanding of grammar, punctuation, and formatting rules. In such cases, researchers may struggle to communicate and present complex ideas, methodologies, and results in an accurate, easy to understand way. Without the assistance of a professional editing service, it can be challenging for authors to meet the high standards expected in academic writing.

Benefits and drawbacks of professional editing services

Although professional editing may come at a price, it offers several advantages. An experienced editor brings a fresh set of eyes and a trained perspective to the research paper which allows them to objectively spot errors, inconsistencies, and ambiguous arguments. Professional editing not only ensures the research paper adheres to academic writing conventions, citation formats, and appropriate style, but the editors also provide valuable suggestions to improve structure, flow, and coherence. On the other hand, not all professional editing services provide subject-specific expertise, which may affect the quality of feedback and editing provided. Professional editing is usually expensive, time-consuming, and involves a lot of back-and-forth between researchers and editors. This could result in a feeling of insecurity about the privacy of their research or a loss of control over their work. Hence, it is essential for authors to select reputable professional editing services and clearly communicate their expectations to ensure a productive editing experience.

When deciding between professional editing or self-editing your work, it helps to start with a checklist of expectations; what you want when editing research papers to ensure it is engaging and impactful. Ultimately, researchers need to evaluate their resources, time constraints, and individual needs to determine the most suitable way to edit and proofread their research papers. It may also be a good idea to explore AI academic writing tools such as Paperpal. Tailored to assist researchers from the first draft itself, Paperpal goes beyond language, spelling and grammar checks to include instant translation support, rewriting, word reduction, contextual synonym suggestions, consistency checks, and more that makes self-editing research papers a breeze.

References:

Author Perspectives on Academic Publishing: Global Survey Report 2018, Editage. Available at https://campaign.editage.com/global_survey_report_2018/?_ga=2.247027596.965675372.1688097074-1549189092.1639544441

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4.6 SELF-REFLECTION: What Are Your Strengths and Weaknesses in Writing an Academic Research Essay in English?

What are your strengths in writing an academic research essay in English?
What are your weaknesses in writing an academic research essay in English?

ACADEMIC Writing Skills

Getting ideas, planning, and organizing my essay
Writing thesis statements for an essay
Writing effective introduction and conclusion paragraphs
Developing and supporting my ideas with good examples and complex sentences
Organizing my ideas logically into strong paragraphs
Using grammar correctly (verb tenses, subject-verb agreement, etc.)
Using vocabulary correctly (including spelling)
Using MLA format to cite information that I use from other sources
Identifying and evaluating secondary sources of information to support my own ideas or opinions
Summarizing and paraphrasing information from other sources
Editing and proofreading, finding and correcting mistakes

Research Process

To Err is Not Human: The Dangers of AI-assisted Academic Writing

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Table of Contents

Artificial intelligence (AI)-powered writing tools are becoming increasingly popular among researchers. AI tools can improve several important aspects of writing, such as readability, grammar, spelling, and tone, providing authors with a competitive edge when drafting grant proposals and academic articles. In recent years, there has also been an increase in the use of “Generative AI,” which can produce write-ups that appear to have been drafted by humans. However, despite AI’s enormous potential in academic writing, there are several significant pitfalls in its use.

Inauthentic Sources

AI tools are built on rapidly evolving deep learning algorithms that fetch answers to your queries or “prompts”. Owing to advances in computation, and the rapid growth in the amount of data that algorithms can access, these tools are often accurate in their answers. However, at times AI can make mistakes and give you inaccurate data. What is worrying is, this data may look authentic at a first glance and increase the risk of getting incorporated in research articles. Failing to scrutinise information and data sources provided by AI can therefore impair scientific credibility and trigger a chain of falsification in the research community.

Why Human Supervision Is Advisable

AI-generated output is frequently generic, matched with synonyms, and may not be able to critically analyse the scientific context when writing manuscripts.

Consider the following example, where the AI ‘ChatGPT’ was used to generate a one-line summary of the following sentences:

The malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum has an organelle，the apicoplast, which contains its own genome.

This organelle is significant in the Plasmodium’s lifecycle, but we are yet to thoroughly understand the regulation of apicoplast gene expression.

The following is a human-generated one-line summary:

The malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum has an organelle that is significant in its lifecycle called an apicoplast, which contains its own genome —but the regulation of apicoplast gene expression is poorly understood.

On the other hand, the AI-generated summary is as follows:

The malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum has an apicoplast, an organelle with its own genome , significant in its life cycle , yet its gene expression regulation remains poorly understood.

In the AI-generated text, it is not clear what ‘its’ refers to in each instance of because it could either refer to Plasmodium falciparum or it could refer to the apicoplast. Moreover, while the expression ‘gene expression regulation’ is technically correct, the sentence structure and writing style is superior if you write ‘regulation of gene expression’.

This is why we need humans to supervise AI bots and verify the accuracy of all information submitted for publication. We request that authors who have used AI or AI-assisted tools include a declaration statement at the end of their manuscript where they specify the tool and the reason for using it.

An example of AI-generated text using the software ChatGPT

Data Leakage

AI is now an integral part of scientific research. From data collection to manuscript preparation, AI provides ways to improve and expedite every step of the research process. However, to function, AI needs access to data and adequate computing power to process them efficiently. One way in which many AI applications meet these requirements is by having large, distributed databases and dividing the labour among several individual computers. These AI applications need to stay connected to the internet to work. Therefore, researchers who upload academic content from unpublished papers to platforms like ChatGPT are at a higher risk of data leakage and privacy violations.

To address this issue, governments in various countries have decided to implement policies. Italy, for example, banned ChatGPT in April 2023 due to privacy concerns, but later reinstated the AI app with a new privacy policy that verifies users’ ages. The European Union is also developing a new policy that will regulate AI platforms such as ChatGPT and Google Bard. The US Congress and India’s IT department have also hinted at developing new frameworks for AI compliance with safety standards.

Elsevier also strives to minimize the risk of data leakage. Our policy on the use of AI and AI-assisted technologies in scientific writing aims to provide authors, readers, reviewers, editors, and contributors with more transparency and guidance.

Legal and Ethical Restrictions on Use

Most publishers allow the use of AI writing tools during manuscript preparation as long as it is used to improve, and not wholly generate, sentences. Elsevier’s policy also allows authors to use AI tools to improve the readability and language of their submissions but emphasises that the generated output is ultimately reviewed by the author(s) to avoid mistakes. Moreover, we require authors to keep us informed and acknowledge the use of AI-assisted writing during the submission process. Information regarding this is included in the published article in the interest of transparency. Visit this resource for more details.

We must know that AI programs are not considered authors of a manuscript, and since they do not receive the credit, they also do not bear responsibility. Authors are solely responsible for any mistakes in AI-assisted writing that find their way into manuscripts.

AI-assisted writing is here to stay. While it is advisable to familiarise oneself with AI writing technology, it is equally advisable to be aware of its risks and limitations.

Need safe and reliable writing assistance? Experts at Elsevier Author Services can assist you in every step of the manuscript preparation process. Contact us for a full list of services and any additional information.

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How to Write the Rationale of the Study in Research (Examples)

What is the Rationale of the Study?

The rationale of the study is the justification for taking on a given study. It explains the reason the study was conducted or should be conducted. This means the study rationale should explain to the reader or examiner why the study is/was necessary. It is also sometimes called the “purpose” or “justification” of a study. While this is not difficult to grasp in itself, you might wonder how the rationale of the study is different from your research question or from the statement of the problem of your study, and how it fits into the rest of your thesis or research paper.

The rationale of the study links the background of the study to your specific research question and justifies the need for the latter on the basis of the former. In brief, you first provide and discuss existing data on the topic, and then you tell the reader, based on the background evidence you just presented, where you identified gaps or issues and why you think it is important to address those. The problem statement, lastly, is the formulation of the specific research question you choose to investigate, following logically from your rationale, and the approach you are planning to use to do that.

The basis for writing a research rationale is preliminary data or a clear description of an observation. If you are doing basic/theoretical research, then a literature review will help you identify gaps in current knowledge. In applied/practical research, you base your rationale on an existing issue with a certain process (e.g., vaccine proof registration) or practice (e.g., patient treatment) that is well documented and needs to be addressed. By presenting the reader with earlier evidence or observations, you can (and have to) convince them that you are not just repeating what other people have already done or said and that your ideas are not coming out of thin air.

Once you have explained where you are coming from, you should justify the need for doing additional research–this is essentially the rationale of your study. Finally, when you have convinced the reader of the purpose of your work, you can end your introduction section with the statement of the problem of your research that contains clear aims and objectives and also briefly describes (and justifies) your methodological approach.

When is the Rationale for Research Written?

The author can present the study rationale both before and after the research is conducted.

Before conducting research : The study rationale is a central component of the research proposal . It represents the plan of your work, constructed before the study is actually executed.
Once research has been conducted : After the study is completed, the rationale is presented in a research article or PhD dissertation to explain why you focused on this specific research question. When writing the study rationale for this purpose, the author should link the rationale of the research to the aims and outcomes of the study.

What to Include in the Study Rationale

Although every study rationale is different and discusses different specific elements of a study’s method or approach, there are some elements that should be included to write a good rationale. Make sure to touch on the following:

A summary of conclusions from your review of the relevant literature
What is currently unknown (gaps in knowledge)
Inconclusive or contested results from previous studies on the same or similar topic
The necessity to improve or build on previous research, such as to improve methodology or utilize newer techniques and/or technologies

There are different types of limitations that you can use to justify the need for your study. In applied/practical research, the justification for investigating something is always that an existing process/practice has a problem or is not satisfactory. Let’s say, for example, that people in a certain country/city/community commonly complain about hospital care on weekends (not enough staff, not enough attention, no decisions being made), but you looked into it and realized that nobody ever investigated whether these perceived problems are actually based on objective shortages/non-availabilities of care or whether the lower numbers of patients who are treated during weekends are commensurate with the provided services.

In this case, “lack of data” is your justification for digging deeper into the problem. Or, if it is obvious that there is a shortage of staff and provided services on weekends, you could decide to investigate which of the usual procedures are skipped during weekends as a result and what the negative consequences are.

In basic/theoretical research, lack of knowledge is of course a common and accepted justification for additional research—but make sure that it is not your only motivation. “Nobody has ever done this” is only a convincing reason for a study if you explain to the reader why you think we should know more about this specific phenomenon. If there is earlier research but you think it has limitations, then those can usually be classified into “methodological”, “contextual”, and “conceptual” limitations. To identify such limitations, you can ask specific questions and let those questions guide you when you explain to the reader why your study was necessary:

Methodological limitations

Did earlier studies try but failed to measure/identify a specific phenomenon?
Was earlier research based on incorrect conceptualizations of variables?
Were earlier studies based on questionable operationalizations of key concepts?
Did earlier studies use questionable or inappropriate research designs?

Contextual limitations

Have recent changes in the studied problem made previous studies irrelevant?
Are you studying a new/particular context that previous findings do not apply to?

Conceptual limitations

Do previous findings only make sense within a specific framework or ideology?

Study Rationale Examples

Let’s look at an example from one of our earlier articles on the statement of the problem to clarify how your rationale fits into your introduction section. This is a very short introduction for a practical research study on the challenges of online learning. Your introduction might be much longer (especially the context/background section), and this example does not contain any sources (which you will have to provide for all claims you make and all earlier studies you cite)—but please pay attention to how the background presentation , rationale, and problem statement blend into each other in a logical way so that the reader can follow and has no reason to question your motivation or the foundation of your research.

Background presentation

Since the beginning of the Covid pandemic, most educational institutions around the world have transitioned to a fully online study model, at least during peak times of infections and social distancing measures. This transition has not been easy and even two years into the pandemic, problems with online teaching and studying persist (reference needed) .

While the increasing gap between those with access to technology and equipment and those without access has been determined to be one of the main challenges (reference needed) , others claim that online learning offers more opportunities for many students by breaking down barriers of location and distance (reference needed) .

Rationale of the study

Since teachers and students cannot wait for circumstances to go back to normal, the measures that schools and universities have implemented during the last two years, their advantages and disadvantages, and the impact of those measures on students’ progress, satisfaction, and well-being need to be understood so that improvements can be made and demographics that have been left behind can receive the support they need as soon as possible.

Statement of the problem

To identify what changes in the learning environment were considered the most challenging and how those changes relate to a variety of student outcome measures, we conducted surveys and interviews among teachers and students at ten institutions of higher education in four different major cities, two in the US (New York and Chicago), one in South Korea (Seoul), and one in the UK (London). Responses were analyzed with a focus on different student demographics and how they might have been affected differently by the current situation.

How long is a study rationale?

In a research article bound for journal publication, your rationale should not be longer than a few sentences (no longer than one brief paragraph). A dissertation or thesis usually allows for a longer description; depending on the length and nature of your document, this could be up to a couple of paragraphs in length. A completely novel or unconventional approach might warrant a longer and more detailed justification than an approach that slightly deviates from well-established methods and approaches.

Consider Using Professional Academic Editing Services

Now that you know how to write the rationale of the study for a research proposal or paper, you should make use of our free AI grammar checker , Wordvice AI, or receive professional academic proofreading services from Wordvice, including research paper editing services and manuscript editing services to polish your submitted research documents.

You can also find many more articles, for example on writing the other parts of your research paper , on choosing a title , or on making sure you understand and adhere to the author instructions before you submit to a journal, on the Wordvice academic resources pages.

Conducting Research: Advantages and Disadvantages Essay

Even though some educators see researching as a compulsory task to obtain certain status in academia, it is important for the development of the entire society. Researchers identify issues to be addressed and provide effective solutions to the problems outlined. Conducting research is a certain kind of participation in the ongoing debate on important issues. Admittedly, debate and discussion lead to solutions and ideas which improve practice. Nonetheless, conducting research is also associated with certain limitations. It is possible to focus on three major advantages and three disadvantages of researching to reveal its importance for the development of any area of human activity, especially when it comes to education.

One of the major advantages of conducting research is the chance to participate in a broader discussion of particular issues. With the help of research, people accumulate knowledge and each researcher adds to his/her knowledge (Creswell, 2008). Every educator researches specific issues he/she encounters. It is necessary to note that research is based on data. Therefore, educators do not only share their opinions, but they provide specific data which justify their conclusions or refute some theories. Accumulation of knowledge is of paramount importance for educators as it helps them develop efficient tools to address existing issues and even foresee upcoming problems.

Another advantage of conducting research is that it provides practitioners with particular tools to address their issues. Creswell (2008, p. 4) stresses that research “suggests improvements for practice”. Therefore, educators (as well as practitioners in other fields) may find many effective solutions to their problems or develop new tools to address issues. Admittedly, this positively affects the development of every field as sharing particular tools helps practitioners develop their strategies to address a variety of issues (McKay, 2007). Thus, Koshy (2005) notes that the use of action research enables practitioners (especially novice educators) to outline an issue and develop specific strategies to address it. In other words, educators outline problems and solutions applicable in particular situations.

Another important advantage of conducting research is that it can be generalized and transformed into policies that can be applicable and beneficial in a variety of situations. Creswell (2008) claims that the ongoing debate and several tools provided by practitioners enable policymakers to come up with appropriate policies which will positively affect the entire system. Therefore, it is possible to note that conducting research helps a practitioner be aware of the ongoing debate on issues. It also helps educators develop particular tools to address every issue. Finally, it helps practitioners bring the issue to the fore and help policymakers work out effective strategies which may make a difference.

As has been mentioned above, conducting research is also associated with disadvantages. It is necessary to note that the disadvantages do not belittle the importance of conducting research. However, it is necessary to understand these disadvantages to be able to diminish the negative effects of these limitations on particular research. One of the major disadvantages is the amount of time necessary for conducting research. Creswell (2008) claims that accumulating knowledge often takes a lot of time. Some research requires years to obtain the necessary amount of information to come up with a plausible solution. This is a significant disadvantage as the contemporary world is rapidly changing and it is important to react quickly to the changing circumstances. Data analyzed and generalized may become outdated and inapplicable.

Another disadvantage is that any research is associated with certain limitations. Thus, the number of participants and amount of information gathered may be insufficient. This may lead to implausible conclusions and erroneous findings (McKay, 2007). Admittedly, it is almost impossible to obtain comprehensive data within a single survey. It is necessary to conduct several surveys to acquire the necessary amount of data. It is necessary to note that some researchers do not understand the importance of thorough analysis and comprehensive data and tend to obtain quite an insufficient amount of information. This explains the number of surveys that provide contradictory data. This adds controversy to the research. Admittedly, this negatively affects the accumulation and sharing of knowledge.

Apart from the analysis of insufficient data, conducting research is also associated with certain biases. Creswell (2008) states that some researchers may put inadequate or vague questions. This distorts data as participants tend to understand such questions differently. Some researchers may also reveal their findings inarticulately which also leads to a lot of controversies (Creswell, 2008). Researchers may use inappropriate statistical tools which also results in distorted data and controversial conclusions (Opdenakker, 2006). Besides, it is impossible to ensure unbiased research as researchers have a certain background that affects the way they perceive information. More so, some researchers do not focus on the unbiased presentation of data, which also adds controversy to the research.

In conclusion, I would like to add that all these advantages and disadvantages are manifested in every educator’s life as well as on a global scale. Being a practitioner, I understand that research will help me gain knowledge on a variety of topics. It will also help me find new ways to handle problems. I will be able to learn more about solutions found by others. This will enable me to adjust these solutions to particular situations. Admittedly, this will positively affect my development as a practitioner. However, I also understand that I will face certain difficulties as conducting research has several disadvantages. I will have to invest a lot of time as conducting research is a very time-consuming activity. I will need to collect a sufficient amount of data to be able to analyze information and come to some conclusions. I will also be attentive when using data revealed by other researchers as I will need to evaluate each survey. I will have to be attentive when implementing my research and analyzing data as I must remain unbiased. Thus, understanding the importance of conducting research and its limitations, I will be able to develop as a practitioner and contribute to the development of certain areas.

Reference List

Creswell, J.W. (2008). Educational research. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

Koshy, V. (2005). Action research for improving practice: A practical guide. Upper Thousand Oaks, CA: Paul Chapman Publishing.

McKay, C.E. (2007). Evidence based practices in mental health: Advantages, disadvantages, and research considerations. CMHSR, 4 (5). Web.

Opdenakker, R. (2006). Advantages and disadvantages of four interview techniques in qualitative research. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 7 (4). Web.

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Bibliography

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The Consequences of Poor Academic Writing

Posted by Rene Tetzner | May 26, 2021 | How To Get Published | 0 |

The Consequences of Poor Academic Writing Those who attempt to write something constructive these days about the importance of using correct and effective spelling, punctuation and grammar run something of a gauntlet. More writers than ever argue that adhering to the intricate rules and patterns of written language has become pedantic, while readers have grown accustomed to ignoring the errors that seem to pop up with greater frequency each year, and not just in online, open-access and self-publishing contexts. Some tend to see the defenders of those rules and patterns as huddling behind the ivory walls of education and tradition, reaching out now and then to strike well-aimed blows at those positioned firmly on the other side of the grisly moat of language skills with little intention of trying to cross the divide. As mucky as this battleground may seem, however, professional and scholarly authors who wish to communicate effectively and have their writing and research taken seriously must make every possible effort to write clearly and correctly.

The consequences of poor writing are perhaps the most convincing arguments for writing correctly. Most obviously, if an author’s language is not adequate for accurately communicating his or her meaning, it is likely that readers will become confused or be completely misled, and consequently unlikely that any but the most determined individuals will persist in reading the text concerned. If, on the one hand, these readers are the editors and reviewers responsible for publishing decisions, it is probable that the text will not be published, or, in the best scenario, will only be considered for publication after careful proofreading, editing and rewriting. If, on the other hand, the readers are the end consumers of your work, whether they are reading for research, instruction or pleasure, it is entirely possible that they will not choose to purchase and read your writing after consulting an abstract or sample, and, if the work is scholarly, not bother to include it among their citations and references even if they do manage to slog through it.

Errors will, of course, always slip in – they are a fact of writing, and even careful written work that is repeatedly proofread and edited can retain errors – but these are accidents quite apart from truly poor writing that reveals little understanding of the rules and patterns of spelling, grammar and punctuation. Even if you believe that many other authors writing material similar to your own do not adhere to these rules and patterns, it is wise to stand out by being an author who does, whether you are composing an academic article, a novel or a blog post. If you find that you are unable to polish your prose to an acceptable standard, the services of a professional proofreader or editor can provide an excellent solution. Keep in mind that aiming for perfection will certainly not turn anyone away from your writing or prevent editors from publishing it, but it will engage, retain and even impress readers and editors who would quickly abandon through confusion or frustration the writing of authors that reveals how little its creators care for precise and effective communication.

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The Unreferenced Research Paper: Pros and Cons

The writing of research papers has been an integral part of academic life for centuries, but the purpose and impact of unreferenced research papers are often misunderstood. This article aims to address this misunderstanding by exploring the pros and cons associated with such documents in order to provide a more comprehensive understanding of their role. It will begin by outlining the differences between referenced and unreferenced work before examining both advantages and disadvantages that accompany them. Finally, it will draw conclusions from these arguments which will contribute towards a better appreciation of what constitutes effective scholarly literature.

I. Introduction to Unreferenced Research Papers

Ii. advantages of unreferenced research papers, iii. disadvantages of unreferenced research papers, iv. evaluating the pros and cons of unreferenced research papers, v. the usefulness of referencing in academic writing, vi. strategies for achieving balance between quality and quantity in references, vii. conclusion: when should authors utilize an unreferenced approach.

Writing Unreferenced Research Papers: Many students and scholars often find themselves in a difficult position when it comes to writing unreferenced research papers. With the increasing demand for original, well-researched academic work, many teachers expect their students to create content that is free from any existing references or sources. Though this can be challenging at times, there are certain techniques which one can use to compose an effective paper without referring to external sources of information.

For starters, it is important for authors of unreferenced research papers to rely heavily on personal experience and insights while constructing their arguments and conclusions. When citing facts or figures in support of one’s thesis statement, they should strive towards providing evidence based upon firsthand observations rather than existing works authored by other researchers in the field. Furthermore, such individual accounts may also be supplemented with relevant studies conducted within similar topics; however these must not feature as primary resources but merely provide additional perspective into the topic being discussed.

Include personal experiences & insights
Cite facts/figures supported by own observations
Supplement w/relevant studies (secondary)

Lastly yet most importantly – before beginning work on an unreferenced research paper project writers must ensure that have developed a sound understanding regarding all aspects surrounding the chosen subject area; only then will they stand a chance at creating comprehensive pieces consisting solely of original ideas and concepts put forward solely by them!

The Perks of Unreferenced Research Papers Unreferenced research papers can provide certain advantages over their referenced counterparts. To begin with, such a paper is not limited by the available resources to which its author has access – it allows for the exploration of any topic regardless of whether there is existing literature on it or not. Moreover, as unreferenced research does away with reliance on external sources, authors have more flexibility in terms of being able to tailor their work according to their own interpretations and conclusions; thereby allowing them to reach far-reaching outcomes from varied angles.

Additionally, an unreferenced paper offers potential opportunities for cross-disciplinary exploration due to this freedom from references. Thus one could blend elements from various fields into a single piece that combines theories and ideas coming together in potentially new ways. For instance, consider an AI researcher who examines different aspects related to data privacy without having any formal publications within the domain but rather draws upon principles derived from law and sociology – something which would be possible only through an unreferenced research paper format.

Potential of Incorrect Results Research papers without references can yield highly inaccurate results. Without any external validation, such as peer reviews or authoritative sources to back up the claims, there is a greater potential for an incorrect conclusion from unreferenced research paper. This could lead to unfounded decisions being made that are based on misguided evidence and assumptions rather than empirical facts. Furthermore, the absence of citations make it difficult to identify any inaccuracies in the findings presented by these documents.

Lack of Credibility The lack of valid references also undermines the credibility of research papers with no referencing included; this makes them less reliable when used in academic studies or professional contexts where accuracy and precision are key factors determining success. For example, if a study has been conducted but doesn’t cite its sources then other researchers may struggle to ascertain whether their own work agrees with those conclusions; conversely, they might not even consider examining it due to doubts over its veracity. In short, while having valuable insights into a particular topic area unreferenced research paper do not lend themselves well towards further exploration within related fields which requires substantial amounts of reliable information sourced through trusted channels.

Unreferenced Research Papers: Advantages and Disadvantages

The main advantage of unreferenced research papers is that they provide an opportunity to explore a subject from multiple perspectives, without being limited by any particular scholarly consensus. This can allow for the discovery of new insights which would otherwise have remained unexplored.
Conversely, due to the lack of formalized guidelines or support materials, there is potential for errors in these papers; information may be incorrect or misunderstood when not checked against reliable sources. Additionally, since their veracity cannot be easily verified it also raises questions about their academic integrity.

As such, while conducting research using unreferenced material offers certain advantages in terms of freedom from external control over one’s work, this should be weighed carefully against the risks associated with its use. It is important to consider how best to utilize both referenced and non-referenced sources within a paper if optimum results are desired – as well as ensuring that all cited works meet expected standards of accuracy and quality. For example: rather than relying solely on an unreferenced research paper which might contain unfounded claims or factual inaccuracies regarding a given topic; combining elements from multiple references (including both referenced and non-referenced works) provides a more comprehensive view whilst still providing room for original thought – ultimately yielding greater value overall.

In academic writing, referencing is a key tool in enhancing the credibility and accuracy of research. Referencing allows writers to link their work back to other authoritative sources, demonstrating the depth of research undertaken. Furthermore, referencing demonstrates knowledge that has been synthesised from multiple texts rather than just one single source which improves its overall quality and rigour.

The usefulness of referencing can also be seen when looking at how it helps with citing ideas or text that are not an author’s own original thoughts. It is important for authors to understand where information came from so as not to get accused of plagiarism; making sure any quotes or borrowed facts have appropriate credit given provides evidence against this accusation. For example, according to recent research conducted by Johnson (2018), 86% of students reported using some kind of reference management software during their studies (Johnson 2018). This shows us that good use if made out proper referencing when conducting scholarly research papers today.

Academics often strive for the perfect balance between quality and quantity in their references. In order to achieve this, there are certain strategies they can adopt.

Prioritize : It is important to prioritize sources according to relevance when choosing which ones should be included in a research paper. When deciding on reference material, one must consider its accuracy, authority and timeliness. While it may be tempting to try to include as many resources as possible, doing so will inevitably dilute the overall value of the work.
Curate Content: When building up a body of references for an academic paper or thesis project, researchers need not only focus on gathering new sources but also curating existing content. By selecting reliable articles from established journals or renowned websites (such as The New York Times ) rather than merely taking note of every article that seems remotely relevant—they can ensure that each source contributes meaningfully towards making their argument more convincing.

Authors should consider the use of an unreferenced approach when attempting to present original ideas or make arguments. While traditional research papers often rely heavily on referencing external sources, in some cases it may be more effective for authors to rely primarily on their own analysis and argumentation. For example, if a writer is proposing new theories about how certain processes work or exploring novel ways of doing things, then they might benefit from not having to source the information provided by others. This can allow them to think more deeply and critically without being constrained by existing literature which could potentially limit creativity.

It is also important for authors utilizing this method that they thoroughly explain their thought process within the paper itself so as to provide adequate evidence that supports any claims made throughout. The accuracy of such assertions must still be assessed even though no citations are used; careful explanation coupled with logical reasoning will give readers confidence that all statements made are reliable and trustworthy. Furthermore, results reported must remain consistent across different studies or disciplines in order for academic validity to be maintained. [1]

In conclusion, while references do have a role in scholarly writing providing support where needed along with validating points raised during discussion – there are times when an unreferenced approach would enable greater exploration into certain topics or stimulate new thinking around well-known subject matters. Therefore writers who choose this route should ensure their content is both comprehensive and convincing enough without relying solely upon external sources presented beforehand. [2]

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Benefits of Writing a Quality Research Paper

April 2, 2021

Contributed by ACHS alumni Melissa Abbott, MS, CPT, NC

Why It’s Important?

You have just been informed that you’re going to write a research paper, and you have no idea how you are going to start the writing process and develop a quality research paper. You may even doubt that you can take on such a challenge. I’m here today to say YES you absolutely can do this! The following writing tips and support strategies offered below are important incentives and motivations involved in the writing process, for your career, and future goals. The writing process involves your body, mind, and spirit. It is all included because you put all your energy and immerse your whole being into it.

Here’s the exciting part, can you imagine having your paper being read by several hundred maybe even thousands of other academic professionals, researchers, and scientists from around the world? It is one of the most incredible feelings to achieve a status of recognition from your hard work in research and the passion(s) you have in holistic health from your peers. Scientists, doctors, holistic professionals in every domain, researchers, collaborators looking for you, your knowledge, and expertise. Sound too good to be true, nope, it happened to me and I hope that it can happen for you too!

President’s Message: End Of Year Reflections

The significant impact and support that I received in my first class at ACHS, RES501 : Assessment and Integration of Research Online, with Professor Dr. Nicole Betschman, was empowering. Dr. Betschman armed and mentored us with the best skills and writing techniques, coping strategies for our anxiety and doubts, and outlines to produce quality research and writing. However, she said one thing that stuck out in my mind throughout my studies at ACHS, register with an online platform where you can post your papers for others to read and get yourself noticed in your chosen field of interest. I did just that and since posting my very first paper to ResearchGate (researchgate.com), it has garnered over 1,000+ reads from others in my area of concentration who have emailed me to ask me questions, inquire about my future projects, and offers of potential future collaborations. [ View current Faculty supporting students in research studies. ]

Listed below are just a few of the many benefits to writing a quality research paper:

Recognition from peers in your field of work for all your hard work and showing pride for your academic institution.
Collaboration with others in your field of expertise from around the world and the potential for research jobs or job recruitment offers.
Opportunities for growing your business and career while contributing and supporting your field of interest.
A showcase of your accomplishments and research papers on your resume or curriculum vitae that highlights your chosen area of expertise to potential employers, clinical trials, and research collaborations.

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How to start the writing process?

You may be asking yourself … where do I begin, how do I pick a topic, what do I research? Let me help by offering a few strategies or “tools” for your writing “toolbox” to get you in the headspace to explore these brainstorming questions.

1. Sit comfortably with a notebook, make a cup of tea, turn on a diffuser with a blend that promotes increased focus and cognitive awareness, put on some background music, create a space for exploration with little to no distraction, and remember to take several deep breaths during your research sessions. We tend to hold our breath when we’re deep in the research and writing process. This always helps refocus the brainstorming process as well as reduce your stress and anxiety accumulating in your body, mind, and spirit. I do understand these feelings and they can distract you from your best intentions.

2. I highly recommend that you pick a topic and formulate your hypothesis on something you already know well, or an area of interest that supports your future career goals, or on a health condition a friend, family, or that you are challenged with; this is a great place to start. My first paper that received all the recognition came from years of personal experience which made the writing process so much easier. This takes so much of the anxiety away from picking a topic at random. If you are invested in the subject you will want to produce a quality paper with integrity that resulted from years of your experiences and knowledge. You are worth it!

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3. Time management is key to staying on task and your module assignments in class. I recommend blocking out two-hour intervals on your research then take a break, walk away, go outside, stretch, go for a walk, get a snack. This also permits you to do other things without getting anxious that you haven’t finished other tasks or responsibilities. These intermissions create more space to return with fresh eyes, mindset, and less tension in your body from sitting. Or even better yet, use a standing desk!

4. Creating a few folders; one on your desktop and one in your bookmarks, where you will collect and manage the content for each component of your research paper helps with the organization of each of the sections involved in a scholarly research paper. Then you can add multiple subfolders for each part of the paper. For example, I had a folder entitled, RES501 Thesis, then subfolders entitled Introduction, Methods, Discussion, Results, and Conclusions. I had one folder titled Notes so that I could cut and paste notes from the highlights taken from research articles and journals that help me to formulate my findings, data interpretations, and key points. One last thing that helped was keeping a file titled Books/Citations so they are all in one place and you don’t have to go looking for them afterward. Another way to decrease your anxiety and stress!

5. I also recommend creating two bookmarks to collect all the supportive websites, journals, and resource materials so you don’t have to look for them each time you need them. For example, I had one bookmark entitled, Research Platforms, where I had links to PubMed, Elsevier, Google Scholar, LIRN, Oxford, and BMC. Then I had a second one entitled, Writing Tools, where I had American Psychological Association (APA) publication manual, Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL), and citation checkers such as Citation Machine and Cite This For Me.

Keep all your supportive tools at your fingertips. Use highlights of different colors to capture the key points within the articles and journals you collect so you are less likely to forget where you read specific data to support your hypothesis. More importantly, it is my hope these tools and tips from personal experiences help support you on your writing adventure and the journey your academic career takes you. It is a very exciting time and it brings great opportunities for success, increased confidence, and empowers you to continue working hard at what you love.

When you find yourself in a writing slump, feel your anxiety increasing or you’re just having a bad day, it is okay to ask for help and support from your fellow peers, your professors, your home support team, they all want you to succeed. I want you to succeed and if you would like to discuss some strategies or need help from a fellow researcher please don’t hesitate to reach out and email me. I would be thrilled to help you produce the best paper you can while being true to yourself and your vision. Be well and happy writing!

Melissa Abbott

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References: [1] American Psychological Association (APA), (2021). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). Retrieved from https:// apastyle.apa.org/products/publication-manual-7th-edition [2] Citation Machine® – write smarter. (n.d.). Retrieved April 02, 2021, from https://www.citationmachine.net/ [3] Save time and improve your marks With CITETHISFORME, the No. 1 citation tool. (n.d.). Retrieved April 02, 2021, from https://www.citethisforme.com/ [4] Purdue Writing Lab. (n.d.). Purdue owl // Purdue Writing lab. Retrieved April 02, 2021, from https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/purdue_owl.html

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10 Benefits of Writing a Research Paper

Scientific research is a systematic way to go through before submitting your Research Article for Publication or meeting the requirements of a research project. There are usually items that you will have missed while authoring your research report.

So,what are the advantages of having your paper peer-reviewed?

Although the qualities of the Research Article Format have been explored elsewhere, here is a list of advantages that I have received from the experience.

10 ADVANTAGES OF PEER REVIEW

Here is a list of the top ten advantages of peer review:, 1. fixes vague terms.

Early on, I began using an internet thesaurus to locate the right phrase to explain an idea. When I signed up for research writing, an online correction tool that automatically suggests a list of phrases to choose from, I noticed it was much easier to locate the right words. I’ve also observed that I employ ambiguous language and terms out of habit.

Despite the AI-powered software application’s assistance, I still make the final judgment when I reread each line of text. As the author of my work, I believe there is no substitute for my judgment.

A Research Article pdf confirms my choice of a word or phrase to communicate what I intend. Receiving comments from colleagues that allows me to decide if I should stick to my original terms or follow their recommendations. If the suggestion seems good, I don’t mind changing the terms in question.

2. PROVIDES FEEDBACK ON THE EFFICACY OF YOUR COMMUNICATION

So, that’s it. You can readily tell if your peer group understands the points you pushed in your Research Article topic based on their reactions. Assume it takes them longer than normal to provide feedback once a page has been displayed, this could indicate that there is something wrong with the flow of thought or conversation. Clarifying queries will almost certainly follow. And, indeed, they do.

3. ALLOWS YOU TO SEE OTHER PEOPLE’S VIEWS ON ISSUES RAISED

Seeing other people’s points of view is a valuable addition to your study Research Article Example . It is here that you will understand you do not have a monopoly on good ideas. There may be better, more sound ideas out there that can improve your work. You will then be able to break free from your personal biases and think beyond the box.

4. PREVENTS YOU FROM MAKING MAJOR MISTAKES IN YOUR ARGUMENTS

You may have raised concerns that were based on incorrect assumptions. If your assumptions are incorrect, everything you’ve stated is effectively incorrect. This result adheres to logic’s norms. If your premises are flawed, everything that follows is untrustworthy.

5. PROVIDES CONFIDENCE

They think that having more heads is better than having one. You will feel more confident after going through a battery of inquiries and critical comments and being able to fight them off or appropriately address them. It boosts self-esteem and alleviates rejection worries.

6. EASIEST CONCISE WRITING

You may have written Research Article more than is required. Taking out extraneous paragraphs or phrases here and there results in a succinct, properly written book.

7. BENEFITS SPELLING AND GRAMMAR

Some people like pointing out spelling and grammatical faults. Although the focus should be placed on the content or ideas of your Research Article Format , grammar is quite important. Reading becomes easier with better grammar because the reading flow becomes more efficient.

8. PERMITS YOU TO EXPAND ON YOUR POINTS

You might have felt you’d written enough to clarify the situation. Then you realize your peers have only gotten halfway to the ideals you wish to express. To grasp and clarify ideas, you must elaborate on the issues you have mentioned.

9. VERIFIES YOUR OBSERVATIONS

If you went to the field with a coworker, he or she can corroborate or deny your observation. The work of others verifies your results.

10. ENCOURAGES YOU TO DO BETTER THE NEXT TIME

If the peer-review process provided you with useful feedback, you will be more aware of the potential remarks, suggestions, or criticism of your Research Article PDF next time it is reviewed. You will be able to write better than before since you will have incorporated all of your colleagues’ comments and advice. As a result, you avoid making the same blunders as in your prior paper. The advantages of peer review are significant.

These modernized review benefits listed here have an impact on your attitude and research paper writing abilities.

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COMMENTS

11.1 The Purpose of Research Writing
Step 4: Organizing Research and the Writer's Ideas. When your research is complete, you will organize your findings and decide which sources to cite in your paper. You will also have an opportunity to evaluate the evidence you have collected and determine whether it supports your thesis, or the focus of your paper.
Common Pitfalls In The Research Process
Conducting research from planning to publication can be a very rewarding process. However, multiple preventable setbacks can occur within each stage of research. While these inefficiencies are an inevitable part of the research process, understanding common pitfalls can limit those hindrances. Many issues can present themselves throughout the research process. It has been said about academics ...
Scientific Writing of Novice Researchers: What Difficulties and
Coordinating the structure of a research paper is a difficult task, which may discourage researchers . ... honed, and applied to the goal of writing and publishing quality scientific research. Writing to learn is a novel and evolving concept with diverse and fragmented views . In accord with this concept, informal writing as a way of enhancing ...
Disadvantages in preparing and publishing scientific papers ...
This paper quantifies the disadvantages that result from the language hegemony in scientific publishing by examining the additional costs that communicating in English creates in the production of articles. ... Karimnia A. Writing Research Articles in English: Insights from Iranian University Teachers' of TEFL. Procedia—Soc Behav Sci. 2013 ...
#13: Writing journal papers: Pros and cons
3. Slow. The process from writing the paper until reading it in the journal can take a very long time. 4. Lower quality. It seems that (young) researchers are forced to publish with quantity in mind rather than quality. We see more papers of lower quality due to the high pressures to publish from institutions. 5.
Disadvantages in preparing and publishing scientific papers caused by
Disadvantages of writing, reading, publishing and presenting scientific papers caused by the dominance of the English language in science: The case of Colombian Ph.D. in biological sciences ... However, I believe a research paper needs to be as concise as possible and this research article is already very long. To not overwhelm the readers but ...
Limitations in Research
Generally, limitations should be discussed in the conclusion section of a research paper or thesis, although they may also be mentioned in other sections, such as the introduction or methods. The specific limitations that are discussed will depend on the nature of the study, the research question being investigated, and the data that was collected.
Thesis or No Thesis: Research Papers Explained
Advantages and Disadvantages of Writing a Thesis for a Research Paper The choice to write a thesis for a research paper can be both advantageous and disadvantageous, depending on the context. It is important to consider each option carefully before making a final decision.
(PDF) Academic Writing: Challenges and Potential Solutions
Abstract. This paper explored postgraduate TESOL (Teac hing English to Speakers of Oth er Languages) students' perspectives on academic writing challenges and their practices to overcome them ...
What are the advantages of writing a research paper?
Research paper writing can be challenging for some and easy for others. It is all about bringing the research findings in a manner that can be easily understood and accepted by the target audience. Good comprehension and writing skills will go a long way in bringing out the best highlights and take-home message of a study. Related reading:
Self-Editing: The Pros and Cons of Editing Your Own Research Paper
Writing and editing research papers can be a daunting task for most researchers across the world. A 2018 global survey revealed that 76% of research authors struggled to prepare a polished, well-written manuscript for journal submission. 1 Academic writing and self-editing requires the ability to effectively construct coherent arguments and an ...
4.6 SELF-REFLECTION: What Are Your Strengths and Weaknesses in Writing
9.5 WRITE: Instructions for the Organic Research Paper. 9.6 SELF-REFLECTION: Review and Revise 04. Unit 10. 10.0 WARM-UP WRITING. 10.1 VOCABULARY: Academic Word List 09. 10.2 THE BIG PICTURE: Getting the Mechanics Right. ... What are your strengths in writing an academic research essay in English? ...
What are the pros and cons of writing papers alone?
Papers with many authors can lack a unified vision due to "design by committee". Papers with one or two authors might typically be more focused and consistent. You're less likely to deal with unscrupulous people taking credit for your work. Cons of writing papers alone: Many people will judge you for working alone.
The Risks of AI-Assisted Academic Writing
These AI applications need to stay connected to the internet to work. Therefore, researchers who upload academic content from unpublished papers to platforms like ChatGPT are at a higher risk of data leakage and privacy violations. To address this issue, governments in various countries have decided to implement policies.
How to Write the Rationale of the Study in Research (Examples)
How to Write a Rationale for a Research Paper . The basis for writing a research rationale is preliminary data or a clear description of an observation. ... their advantages and disadvantages, and the impact of those measures on students' progress, satisfaction, and well-being need to be understood so that improvements can be made and ...
Uncovering the Benefits of Research Papers for Students
Writing research papers can offer a range of positive cognitive benefits for students, such as improved critical thinking skills, better decision making abilities and more well-rounded knowledge. It also enables students to become familiar with the way that scientific evidence is used to support arguments and conclusions. Key advantages include:
Conducting Research: Advantages and Disadvantages Essay
Conducting research is a certain kind of participation in the ongoing debate on important issues. Admittedly, debate and discussion lead to solutions and ideas which improve practice. Nonetheless, conducting research is also associated with certain limitations. It is possible to focus on three major advantages and three disadvantages of ...
The Consequences of Poor Academic Writing
The consequences of poor writing are perhaps the most convincing arguments for writing correctly. Most obviously, if an author's language is not adequate for accurately communicating his or her meaning, it is likely that readers will become confused or be completely misled, and consequently unlikely that any but the most determined individuals will persist in reading the text concerned.
The Unreferenced Research Paper: Pros and Cons
The writing of research papers has been an integral part of academic life for centuries, but the purpose and impact of unreferenced research papers are often misunderstood. This article aims to address this misunderstanding by exploring the pros and cons associated with such documents in order to provide a more comprehensive understanding of ...
Benefits of Writing a Quality Research Paper
Listed below are just a few of the many benefits to writing a quality research paper: Recognition from peers in your field of work for all your hard work and showing pride for your academic institution. Collaboration with others in your field of expertise from around the world and the potential for research jobs or job recruitment offers.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of writing the
How to write the Discussion section in a qualitative paper? [In case you are doing quali research] How to write a convincing discussion section [This is a course on R Upskill, a sister brand offering learning programs around various aspects of a researcher's work, such as publication, communication, and career progression. For a limited ...
10 Benefits of Writing a Research Paper
7. BENEFITS SPELLING AND GRAMMAR. Some people like pointing out spelling and grammatical faults. Although the focus should be placed on the content or ideas of your Research Article Format, grammar is quite important. Reading becomes easier with better grammar because the reading flow becomes more efficient. 8.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Writing a Research Paper
Men and women can gain an understanding of each other's talents and skills by cooperating on a level playing field, which may result in a society that is more equitable. Teams with a mix of genders can encourage diversity by guaranteeing that men and women have an equal chance to contribute and thrive. This may result in a society that is more ...

11.1 The Purpose of Research Writing

Reasons for Research

Research Writing and the Academic Paper

Research Writing at Work

Writing at Work

Steps of the Research Writing Process

Step 1: Choosing a Topic

Step 2: Planning and Scheduling

Step 3: Conducting Research

Step 4: Organizing Research and the Writer’s Ideas

Step 5: Drafting Your Paper

Step 6: Revising and Editing Your Paper

Key Takeaways

Disadvantages in preparing and publishing scientific papers caused by the dominance of the English language in science: The case of Colombian researchers in biological sciences

Introduction

Materials and methods

Survey construction

Statistical analysis

Editing and translation service costs

Supporting information

S2 File. Survey questions in Spanish.

S3 File. Survey questions in English.

S4 File. Raw data.

S5 File. Theorical framework.

Acknowledgments

#13: Writing journal papers: Pros and cons

I. The historical perspective of writing for journals

2. Mid-20th century

3. Transition to 21st century journal publishing

4. The current situation

II. The cons: 10 common critical points on the paper publishing process

2. Expensive

4. Lower quality

5. Too many papers

7. Lack of transparency

8. Old-fashioned

9. Non-interactive

10. Commercial

III. The pros: 10 reasons why you should write and publish journal papers

1. Quality control

2. Quality label

3. Trusted source

4. Academic career development

5. Non-academic career development

6. Funding body requirement

7. Attracting grants

8. Get acknowledged

9. Established infrastructure

10. Established way of communication

Conclusion:

Relevant resources:

More information:

Valeria Ramírez-Castañeda

Associated Data

Introduction

Materials and methods

Survey construction

Statistical analysis

Editing and translation service costs

Supporting information

Acknowledgments

Funding Statement

Data Availability

Decision Letter 0

Author response to Decision Letter 0

Decision Letter 1

Acceptance letter

Self-Editing: The Pros and Cons of Editing Your Own Research Paper

What is self-editing?

Advantages of self-editing research papers

Disadvantages of self-editing and proofreading

Benefits and drawbacks of professional editing services

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