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- The English language dominates scientific publishing, which creates multiple barriers for non-native English speakers.<\/li>\n
- Practical initiatives from journals, alongside the use of new technologies, could remove these barriers and improve access to science.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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<\/p>\nScientific research is expanding globally, but the persistent dominance of the English language in scientific publishing creates disadvantages for non-native English speakers. An editorial<\/a> in Nature Human Behaviour<\/em><\/a> discusses the impact of these barriers and what can be done to help.<\/p>\n
Existing barriers<\/strong><\/p>\n
As highlighted by the editorial team, English-language dominance negatively impacts international science and decision-making. It also has a detrimental effect on researchers themselves. The group describe several instances of barriers experienced by non-native English scholars, particularly during the peer review process. These include:<\/p>\n
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- worse peer review outcomes, \u201cprobably due to reviewer and editor bias\u201d<\/li>\n
- differences in review outcomes, unless author identities were blinded<\/a><\/li>\n
- bearing the resource burden and costs associated with any multi-lingual publishing or translation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Removing barriers<\/strong><\/p>\n
The team describe how Nature Human Behaviour <\/em>\u201cstrives for greater diversity, equity, and inclusion<\/a>\u201d, and the practical steps taken to try to achieve this. These include:<\/p>\n
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- publishing non-English-language translations and summaries to increase accessibility<\/li>\n
- welcoming the inclusion of supplementary material in other languages<\/li>\n
- considering research for peer review, regardless of language quality<\/li>\n
- ensuring that correcting linguistic errors is not the responsibility of authors and peer reviewers, and that such errors are not barriers to publication.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Future directions<\/strong><\/p>\n
The editorial team also discuss the potential for new technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) tools, to improve the situation for non-native English speakers. For example, AI-based translation tools could help authors and journals to translate work into English, or allow readers to translate work<\/a> published in English into their native language at the click of a button. In the meantime, the practical initiatives highlighted by Nature Human Behaviour <\/em>serve as an example to everyone in medical publishing of steps we could all take to help remove language barriers.<\/p>\n
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The use of AI tools may help to overcome language barriers in scientific publishing.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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- bearing the resource burden and costs associated with any multi-lingual publishing or translation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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