What are the common problems in writing English academic papers?

As more and more academic papers flock to high-impact journals, language problems have become an important factor affecting the dissemination of academic achievements. In China, the number of manuscripts rejected due to language problems such as unclear language expression and improper use of words still accounts for a high proportion of the total number of manuscripts rejected. High-level research results can be recognized and exchanged by international peers, first of all, they must pass the language barrier.

Charlesworth's paper retouching editor summarized some common language problems when retouching China's manuscript as follows:

The title is long, inaccurate and the writing is not standardized.

The importance of the title has been mentioned many times in the article before, so I don't need to emphasize it too much here. I mainly talk about the mistakes that the author often makes. First of all, the words are too long and not concise enough, which is not only not conducive to periodical retrieval, but also leads to failure to highlight key points and being too general.

Academic journals in different fields have restrictions on the number of words in titles. For example, JAMA (Journal of American Medical Association) stipulates that the number of printed characters should not exceed 42 (one English letter accounts for one printed symbol, and spaces and punctuation marks account for one printed symbol). According to the regulations of the Royal Mathematical Society, the topic cannot exceed 12. So don't use words without information, try to be concise.

Improper use of words, typos and abbreviations

I still remember Charlesworth's article "Praise God in OA Journals, English proficiency is a serious injury" published in March last year. Because of an article published by China in PLOS 1. Due to the improper use of words, China's understanding of the creator as nature may be correct. However, in English words, it can't be directly translated into God, which makes a big joke.

Improper use of words includes improper use of technical terms, grammar, collocation, etc. Some authors even made it up by themselves, such as cyanobacteria, also called blue-green algae, and others will be translated into "cyanobacteria", which is completely Chinglish.

Another problem is the use of abbreviations. Abbreviations are used to promote information exchange, but they should not be overused. Some abbreviations are ambiguous, and if used, they will often cause ambiguity. For example, AIS can represent automatic identification system, accounting information system and artificial immune system. Therefore, when you encounter such acronyms, you should use the full name.

In addition to the above problems, there are many language problems worth talking about, which we will explain in future articles.

Reference: Link to Charlesworth's paper.