Language and publication in Cardiovascular Research articles

Abstract

Many factors could influence the rejection of an article. However, we found clear indications that carelessly written articles could often have either a direct or subliminal influence on whether a paper was accepted or rejected. On equal scientific merit, a badly written article will have less chance of being accepted. This is even if the editor involved in rejecting a paper does not necessarily identify language problems as a motive for rejection. A more detailed look at the types and categories of language errors is needed. Furthermore we suggest the introduction of standardised guidelines in scientific writing.

Estimates of global production in cardiovascular diseases research

“…This pertains especially to regions with authors who are not native speakers of English (i.e. Eastern Europe and Japan), where researchers tend to publish their findings in regional journals of their own language [16]. In addition, one should take into account that the impact factor has often been criticized as a tool for measuring quality of scientific research [17][18][19][20].…”

Writing and publishing in peripheral scholarly journals: How to enhance the global influence of multilingual scholars?

“…Moreover, many of these non-native English-speaking scholars grow frustrated by the high rejection rate of their papers submitted to elite journals (Coates, Sturgeon, Bohannan, & Pasini, 2002;Mur Dueñas, 2012;Shashok, 2008;Uzuner, 2008). However, the role of publishing in developing countries cannot be ignored.…”

ICT in Africa: Building a Better Life for All

“…Reporting on publication in the medical research field, Coates, Sturgeon, Bohannan, and Pasini (2002) show that badly written articles correlate with a high rejection rate and that, even though several factors could influence the decision to reject an article, on equal scientific merit, a poorly written article has less chance of being accepted. Shashok (2008) predicts that this situation will continue to worsen because of the decreasing editorial tolerance for less-than-perfect language and writing clearly expected in the instructions for manuscript preparation.…”