Overcoming language barriers in publishing

The linguistic barriers to getting your work published in an English language journal can be tough, but help is at hand to improve your chances of getting your paper through review and accepted for publication.

As you move into post-graduate education the pressure to have your work published increases. In fact, in some countries and institutions, it is a requirement that you have your work published before you will be awarded your degree (source: http://www.charlesworth-group.com/useful-resources/managing-submissions/our-services/chinese-author-article.html). Each year the number of articles submitted to Western journals is increasing, with a growing number of those submission coming from countries where English is not the native language. The competition is fierce and the standards are very high. Increasingly, editors are not willing to work through papers that are written poorly, particularly papers that have errors in basic English language. Rejection rates can reach 95% for some of the high end journals, a very daunting figure for new authors.

The good news is that the number of articles being published is also increasing. Hundreds of new journals are being published each year, and research shows that about 1.4 million articles are published annually in science, technology and medical fields (source: http://informationr.net/ir/14-1/paper391.html). But to get your paper into and through to review you’ve not only got to have solid science, but you also need to submit your article to an appropriate journal, and hand in a manuscript that is clear and well-written. Any scholar will tell you that getting published is tricky enough, but when you’re also submitting your work to a journal published in English and it’s not your native language you’ve got a significant additional barrier to publication. One of the biggest problems non-native authors trying to publish in English journals face is rapid rejection of their paper due to incorrect or non-standard use of the English language.

Getting help with English through language polishing services is an increasingly popular strategy that many researchers are turning to for help getting over language barriers to publishing. In fact, many journals suggest that authors who need help in writing use such services before they submit, including high impact journals such as PNAS and PLOS. Language polishing services help authors by providing them with skilled editors who are native speakers of English and who are also qualified in the relevant subject area. By having papers edited before submitting it to the chosen journal, the researcher dramatically reduces the risk that their paper will be rejected for language errors alone. The aptly-named service ‘polishes’ the language in the paper, looking at grammatical correctness, spelling, structure, readability and semantics. The Charlesworth Group offers language polishing services and has a large pool of experienced editors, all of whom are native speakers of English with advanced degrees in subjects ranging from geology to microbiology. We produce a monthly newsletter with tips and tools to help authors write better English and also insight from journal editors on what they look for in a submission. The newsletter is free and you can sign up on our website www.charlesworth-group.com/authorservices.

In the meantime, here are a few tips on how to prepare your paper for submission to a journal:

• Target a specific journal and ensure your paper fits within the aims and scope. If your research is not relevant to the journal, you’re wasting both your time and the editor’s. This is one of the leading reasons for rejection.
• Pay attention to the style of the journal and tailor your paper to match. This demonstrates that you’ve studied the journal carefully and understand what both its editors and readers want in published manuscripts.
• Get your paper reviewed by a native speaker of prior to submission. Even if your fluency is excellent, a native speaker is likely to spot subtle mistakes when s/he checks your work.
• Make sure you fully and complete cite your sources. Plagiarism is a serious problem in academic work, and increasingly publishers are using sophisticated software to review manuscripts for plagiarized text. If your manuscript is found to contain material from other already published texts that is not properly cited, you not only will not get published, but you may be asked not to submit to that publication again or receive some other kind of professional reprimand.  See our Tips and Tools newsletter for more information about how to site sources correctly.

Even if you get a rejection, don’t give up hope! Everyone working towards having their research published has to face a degree of rejection. Stay positive, take any feedback you get and keep working!

Email: info@charlesworth-group.com
Website: www.charlesworth-group.com