The advantage of a well-written research paper

Academic publishers are selective about the works they choose for publication. As you browse through the many research articles that have been published, you will notice that the arguments are well communicated, the findings are appropriately organized, and the overall messages are clearly written. What becomes apparent is that academic publishers tend to favor manuscripts written by native English-speakers, or by those who have mastered the intricacies of the English language well enough that they can clearly articulate their work. Why?

In my experience working with thousands of non-native English-speaking researchers, I have observed that there are a number of reasons why publishers tend to prefer manuscripts written by these two types of authors. First, well-written papers can capture the reader’s attention, so journal editors are more likely to send clearly communicated works on for peer review. If you have conducted novel or innovative research, your manuscript might not get published if your writing is unclear. The rationale behind this is that your message might get lost, and as a result, your important work may never reach the peer review stage. On the other hand, if your data are not groundbreaking, but you are able to convey your arguments, methods, and findings in a clear and intuitive way, your manuscript will make a lasting impact on the publisher’s editorial team, increasing your chances of being considered for peer review.

Once your manuscript is in the hands of the reviewers, your clearly written text will work to your advantage. The job of the peer reviewer is to critically analyze the content of the paper to determine whether or not your paper merits publication. The task is made increasingly more difficult when the reviewer is unsure about the message or data an author is trying to convey due to poor grammar, word choices, or flow. Therefore, even if your paper makes it through to the peer review stage, you can tip the scale in your favor — toward publication — by ensuring that your message is clearly delivered.

This is not to say that papers will not make it to the “acceptance” stage if they are not grammatically perfect. Many publishers – including Dove – provide copyediting services for accepted manuscripts at no additional charge to the authors. This means that once your paper has been accepted, it will pass through many layers of screening. If some light editing is needed to ensure that your work is clearly written and showcased appropriately, Dove staff will take care of that for you. However, some manuscripts require a bit more than light proofreading and editing to get noticed by a publisher.

How can you increase your chances of getting published if you find that your written English needs some help? One option would be to find resources that will essentially try to teach you to “learn” the intricacies of the English language. But isn’t your time better spent conducting research? If you answered, “yes,” I would recommend that you seek other avenues for support. If you find that you need assistance preparing your manuscript, reach out to your university’s writing center, or contact journals directly for their recommendations. Many publishers know of additional services — internal or external — that can facilitate manuscript preparation, which can help polish your writing so it is publication-ready.

The final touches made to your manuscript are far more important than most authors realize, especially because published papers that are well-written are more likely to be read, cited, and well-received. Journal editors want to receive submissions that present great research, and most publishers will provide you with some level of guidance to help level the playing field for non-native English-speaking researchers.

 

Shawn Maloney
President, Journal Prep

Read original blog entry HERE

Merging the Literature and Propelling the Science

Gerontology is my passion. Understanding the aging process and how to really maximize on the advantages of aging (i.e., experience, wisdom, spirituality, life-long relationships) while minimizing some of the disadvantages (i.e., cognitive decline, depression and increased suicidal ideation, managing co-morbidities) really excited me as a researcher. That scientific pursuit in itself is enough to sustain any individual for a lifetime of scholarship and scientific inquiry. But as humans we are not always so linear in our thinking, and especially our behavior. We develop other interests and, over the course of time, if we are lucky, we have the opportunity to blend our interests and passions.

Fifteen years ago, I began to see more on HIV and the use of protease inhibitors in stopping the virus from mutating, proliferating, and ravaging in the body.  At the time, although the evidence was not quite amassed about just how effective this new pharmaceutical treatment would be in preventing death long-term, I thought (and hoped) that those living with this disease may actually be able to age with this disease.  As I continued studying, I read more and more about HIV and saw that there were many overlaps between HIV and aging (Figure 1) as I realized that people were probably going to age with this disease, and perhaps age successfully for many infected individuals. I presented my preliminary findings to healthcare practitioners and others at scientific conferences. All ideas have their time in the spotlight and apparently the topic of aging with HIV was premature. At first, my ideas were not met with the most roaring of applause, but at least there were a few open-minded souls in the audience that encouraged me to continue my work. So I kept tinkering with these ideas surrounding aging with HIV and found that, over time, more and more interest began to emerge on the topic. 

Fortunately, a few journals were open to the idea of successful aging with HIV. I started publishing concerning what I found by merging the gerontological and HIV literatures.  In fact, there are several shared experiences for those aging and those living with HIV, including immune decline, cognitive declines, social declines, sleep disruptions, fatigue/mitochondria damage, and suicide. It turns out that those with HIV experience similar problems in those adults aging normally. So I began to sound the alarm that as people age with HIV, thanks to the new medications, they may be more at-risk of experiencing such declines and associated problems that go along with them. Therefore, we need to develop strategies to address these risk factors.

The science has now caught up to some of my ideas and we know much more about the phenomenon of aging with HIV. We are in a better place to do something about it.  But much of this progression in science and practice comes from merging seemly disparate literatures and getting ahead of an emerging phenomenon. 

I was fortunate that my interests lead me to this point where I’ve been successful in publishing many articles and book chapters on this topic. But as editor-in-chief of Nursing: Research and Reviews, I’m curious about others who are experiencing similar insights as they are merging their interest areas and seeing through the crystal ball as to what new issues are going to affect their patient population, whether it is in the field of multiple sclerosis, diabetes, substance abuse, and so forth. Please consider sharing your important insights with us as you practice, research, and review the literature. Together we can boldly propel the science forward.

Dr. David Vance
Nursing: Research and Reviews

http://www.dovepress.com/merging-the-literature-and-propelling-the-science---nursing-research-blog-post