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Writing Scientific Journal Manuscripts in English

Article in HortScience · April 2016

DOI: 10.21273/HORTSCI.51.4.316

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 Writing Scientific Journal Manuscripts in English
Clinton C. Shock1,5
Malheur Experiment Station, Oregon State University, 595 Onion Avenue, Ontario, OR 97914
Myrtle P. Shock2
Anthropology and Archaeology Program, Universidade Federal do Oeste de Par

a, C^
ampus Amaz^ onia, Avenida
Mendoncxa Furtado 2946, Bairro F

atima, CEP 68040-050 Santar

em, Par

a, Brazil
Candace B. Shock3
Scientific Ecological Services, 1059 Southwest 2nd Avenue, Ontario, OR 97914
Stuart R. Reitz4
Department of Crop and Soil Science, Oregon State University, Malheur County Extension, 710 Southwest
5th Avenue, Ontario, OR 97914
Additional index words. scientific writing, manuscript preparation, English proficiency, international journals
Abstract. With the intensification of horticultural research around the world, increasing numbers of scientific manuscripts are
being written in English by authors whose primary language is not English. English has become the standard language of science,
and English language manuscripts are readily accessible to the global scientific community. Therefore, non-native English
speakers are encouraged to publish appropriate studies in English. Reviewers of manuscripts written in English by non-native
speakers are encouraged to focus on scientific content and to provide constructive criticisms to facilitate the international
exchange of information. Problems associated with writing scientific manuscripts in English can impede the publication of good
science in international journals. This article describes problems in horticultural manuscripts that are often encountered by
authors who are non-native English speakers and provides suggestions and resources to overcome these problems. References
have been selected that provide clear help for authors in horticulture and other plant sciences.

Scientists whose native language is not consider whether and where they will publish become part of the international scientific
English often want to publish the outcomes of the work. Many of the essential tasks neces- dialog.
their research in journals in English, because sary to publish research occur before a re-
English has become the predominant inter- search project is initiated. Prospective authors Manuscripts That Should Be Published in
national language of science (Drubin and must focus their research projects on unre- English
Kellogg, 2012; Garfield, 1967; Meneghini and solved questions in the scientific and practical
Packer, 2007). Writing scientific manuscripts is world and read the pertinent literature in that Basic science that is on the forefront of
difficult for almost everyone, but the structure scientific field. A prospective author learns knowledge and that will have wide interest
of scientific manuscripts in English can be what others hypothesize to be answers to a should be published in English, regardless
particularly difficult for non-native English scientific question and what methods have of where in the world it has been conducted.
speakers (Benson et al., 2010; Moreno et al., been considered to be adequate approaches Also, practical applied research that is
2012). The summary presented here addresses to the research question. Then a prospective designed to provide answers to problems of
normal expectations for the structure of scien- author can generate a new hypothesis and broad geographic interest should be pub-
tific journal manuscripts and specific problems adopt statistically valid methods to address lished in English. Consider the scope of the
encountered by non-native English speakers the question. The work of other researchers practical problem that is addressed. If the
based on our experience gained as reviewers. helps to provide ideas about valid methods in problem and results are international in scope,
Some of the items covered here apply to the the field of science. If the author wishes to the manuscript should be published in English.
writing of any scientific manuscript. Many publish in English, the pertinent literature to If research results are regional (a local appli-
points are specific to writing in English. In review in research planning before initiating cation of a well-known phenomenon), it is
addition to providing guidance to authors, this a new project should include relevant jour- not as important that they be published in
summary report may be helpful to advisers, nal articles in English. The effort of writing English. Publishing in a ‘‘native’’ language
mentors, and reviewers in knowing what to the introduction and discussion of a manu- journal can make the locally important in-
look for in evaluating a paper, and in giving script is simplified by prior familiarity with formation more accessible to the relevant
constructive criticism for its improvement. the pertinent work, the procedures, the use audience than publishing the manuscript in
Publishing research does not begin once of specialized terms in English, and the English.
a project is complete and authors start to findings of others. Everyone wants to publish their manu-
script in a high impact journal, but not every
manuscript warrants publication in a high
Received for publication 11 Dec. 2015. Accepted Why Publish in English? impact journal. There is nothing wrong with
for publication 22 Feb. 2016. that. To publish in journals with high impact
We thank Jay Noller, William Braunworth, and Publishing in English immediately increases values requires planning research to answer
Erik Feibert of Oregon State University and four the visibility of a manuscript because of the significant research questions. It is difficult
anonymous reviewers for constructive comments predominance of English in scientific literature to address such important research questions
that have improved this manuscript. (Drubin and Kellogg, 2012). All scientific re- using appropriate experimental methods that
1
Director and Professor. search and reports should be of good quality,
2
Assistant Professor.
provide definitive conclusions.
3
but realistically not all work is of the same
Technical Writer. quality. Because manuscripts in English will
4
Professor and Extension Faculty.
5
Corresponding author. E-mail: clinton.shock@
have exposure to a larger audience, it is impor- General Considerations in Preparing the
oregonstate.edu. tant that the work be of high quality. Manu- Manuscript
This is an open access article distributed under the scripts should not have questionable methods
CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons. or questionable statistical analyses. Publishing Follow the journal’s format. The idea of
org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). research results in English helps the authors following the journal’s format should be

316 HORTSCIENCE VOL. 51(4) APRIL 2016

 FEATURE

self-evident. Yet, many manuscripts are pre- native English speaker can correct most of consult a thesaurus to identify suitable alter-
pared without considering the journal’s for- these problems. native words (Table 1). A thesaurus provides
mat. The format may specify the headings of Sentences in scientific manuscripts in alternative words that have similar meanings.
the different sections, the spacing between English are direct (Strunk and White, 1999). Common words are frequently misused.
sentences, the reference citation format, how Sentences are relatively short and concise. Guidelines for proper word use are available
citations appear in the text, or other items Avoid compound sentences, those with mul- (Anonymous, 2015b; Chicago Editorial Staff,
important to that journal. For example, the tiple parts or extensive dependent clauses. If 2010; Strunk and White, 1999). Day and
American Society for Horticultural Science a long sentence can be divided in two, divide Gastel (2011) have tabulated words and
has instructions for authors and a style man- it. Long sentences with many parts and de- phrases to avoid. Authors with native lan-
ual online (Anonymous, 2015a, 2015b). Style pendent clauses (so called ‘‘run-on’’ sentences) guages other than English will have specific
manuals are available that have wide appli- are not acceptable. One clue that a sentence kinds of problems with English word use. For
cability (Chicago Editorial Staff, 2010; needs to be divided is if it needs many commas example, Marlow (2014) describes specific
Council of Science Editors, 2014). to be intelligible. word and expression use problems that native
Translating manuscripts into English. The placement of descriptive phrases in a Portuguese speakers have in writing English.
Translation services may do a good job of sentence can modify the sentence’s meaning. Word use consistency. Use the same word
converting a foreign language into English; If a descriptive phrase applies to the complete in the same context throughout a given manu-
however, grammar, word use, and technical sentence, it usually is the first part of the script. Avoid substituting synonyms for a par-
concepts deserve special attention. Trans- sentence. The placement of descriptive phrases ticular word. In nonscientific literature, authors
lation services cannot be expected to know of times or dates is especially important. are appreciated for the use of synonyms for
the proper terminology for specialized tech- Locations of research are also placed at the linguistic beauty. However, in a scientific man-
nical terms. A literal, word-for-word trans- beginning of a sentence if they also apply to the uscript, key words and roots of words should be
lation will not capture the specific terms complete sentence. used consistently without substituting syno-
used in any field of science. Beyond the The first sentence of a paragraph in nyms. As an example of synonyms, if a scien-
translation services, someone knowledge- a scientific manuscript in English introduces tific trial is about nitrogen rates, do not
able about the technical terms in the specific the subject of the paragraph. The introductory substitute nutrition rates or fertilization rates
field of science needs to review and revise sentence must be written so that the reader or other synonyms as these synonyms do not
the manuscript before its submission. Spe- only learns about the details of the subject have the identical meaning. As an example of
cial resources with emphasis on some types later in the paragraph, and the paragraph root words, suppose that a hypothetical manu-
of technical terms used in horticulture are should remain focused on the subject in- script reports the comparison of several irriga-
available (Table 1). troduced in the first sentence. tion systems. Then the word system should be
used consistently in the context of irrigation
Sentence and Paragraph Structure Use of Words systems. In addition, the words system, system-
atic, or systematics should not be used with any
Sentence structure needs to follow that Specialized words. While reviewing the other connotation in the manuscript, only di-
used in English. Manuscripts translated from scientific literature related to a research proj- rectly in the context of the irrigation systems.
other languages into English and submitted ect before initiating research, learn the spe- Verb and subject agreement. Not all
to English language journals often retain cialized words and terms used in that field of languages have verbs that change with the
partial sentence structure of the original lan- science. Know their meanings so that they subject. English verbs in the present tense
guage. These grammatical inconsistencies can be used correctly in writing. almost always change form according to their
need to be corrected, preferably before Word use meaning. Consult a dictionary to subject. For example:
submission, because they may inadver- resolve doubts about the meaning of a word. If
tently alter the intended meaning of the the word being used does not precisely match
authors. Informal review by a competent the meaning that needs to be communicated, I am. You are. It is. They are.
It has. They have.
Table 1. Special online resources for authors (accessed 26 Mar. 2016).
It harvests. They harvest.
Terminology databases
Thesaurus.com: http://www.thesaurus.com/ Although English verbs change with the
Acronyms and abbreviations: http://www.acronymfinder.com/ subject, the changes are often irregular (Day
Merriam-Webster online dictionary: http://www.merriam-webster.com/ and Gastel, 2011) and do not necessarily
Dictionary.com: http://dictionary.reference.com/ follow specific verb change patterns that are
OneLook Dictionary Search: http://www.onelook.com/ common in Latin root languages. In English,
Taxonomy databases there is a stated subject for each verb, except
American Phytopathological Society common names of plant diseases: http://www.apsnet.org/ in the imperative tense. In English, the verb
publications/commonnames/Pages/default.aspx does not contain an implicit understood subject.
Entomological Society, common names of insects and related organisms: http://www.entsoc.org/pubs/ Adverbs. Differences in results need to be
common_names described in objective, quantitative terms. Do
U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Library Catalog (AGRICOLA) (books/journals): not describe differences using subjective
http://agricola.nal.usda.gov/ terms. Examples of subjective adverbs are
International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses: http://ictvonline.org/index.asp and http://ictvonline.org/
virusTaxonomy.asp
mainly, nearly, obviously, very, and convinc-
International Plant Names Index: http://www.ipni.org/index.html ingly. Any adverb that is not needed for
U.S. Department of Agriculture, ARS, GRIN fungal database site: http://nt.ars-grin.gov/ comprehension of the topic under discussion
fungaldatabases/index.cfm should be eliminated. Avoid unnecessary
U.S. Department of Agriculture, NRCS Plants Database: http://plants.USDA.gov flowery adverbial phrases.
U.S. Department of Agriculture National Plant Germplasm System, Advanced Query of GRIN Personal pronouns. The words I, my,
TAXONOMY Species Data plant taxonomy: https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/taxon/ mine, we, our, and ours are generally not
taxonomysearch.aspx used in scientific manuscripts. For example:
U.S. Plant Variety Protection: http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/pvp/pvplist.pl
We plowed the field. Change to ‘‘The field
Other resources was plowed.’’
Online encyclopedia: http://www.encyclopedia.com/ This was the last measurement of our trial.
Duke University Graduate School exercises and explanation of scientific writing: https://cgi.duke.edu/ Change to ‘‘This was the last measurement of
web/sciwriting/index.php the trial.’’

HORTSCIENCE VOL. 51(4) APRIL 2016 317

 Articles and prepositions. The articles a, questions, and what they have discovered. It to the original research question and then
an, and the are difficult to use correctly. Also is far easier to write the introduction of prolong the results and discussion sections
the prepositions in, on, of, with, to, and for are a manuscript if the authors are very familiar of a manuscript by comparing their results
difficult to use correctly. It is advisable to with the state of contemporary science ap- with those of other studies, even when the
have a native speaker familiar with English plied to the question before starting the result has no direct bearing on the subject of
writing, read the text, and make any neces- research project. If one is unfamiliar with the manuscript.
sary corrections. the most recent science addressing the re- Discussion. The discussion of the results
Capitalization. Capital letters are reserved search question, it will be difficult to make from the work is written using the past tense.
for the formal name of an entity or person. For a clear justification for the research after it Discussion of the work of others is written in
example, Gansu Province, China, and San has been completed. the present tense.
Francisco, CA are capitalized. Many places of It is essential to present the findings of Like the results section above, the discus-
research are formal entities. For example, the others in context. For the purpose of clar- sion must focus on the central research
University of Pennsylvania and the Depart- ity, suppose that the research question of question. The discussion needs to consider
ment of Horticulture are capitalized. Notice a hypothetical manuscript involves an in- alternative explanations for the results ob-
that the article the is not part of the formal novation in the irrigation of onions (Allium tained. When comparing the current results
name and is usually not capitalized. Scientific cepa L.). Identification of the pertinent with the results of prior research, provide
disciplines are not formal entities and are not facts of each work cited (such as the plant adequate context for the research of others so
capitalized. For example, the study of horti- species and cultivar, location, soil, climate, that variations in outcomes can be compared.
culture and a master’s degree in soil science and irrigation system used) is essential for Subtle differences in methods or less subtle
are not capitalized. the reader to understand the appropriate- differences in plant materials, locations, cli-
Spacing of words. Words always have ness of the citation to the present work on mate, etc. can provoke remarkable differ-
a space between them. Following punctua- onions. ences in research outcomes. All of the
tions (, . ; : ! ?) there is always a space in the The introduction also defines who will be different outcomes may be real and valid.
text. There are always spaces before initial able to use the results of the manuscript: Their contexts help provide an understanding
parentheses. theoretical or basic scientists, growers, in- of the differences in outcomes.
dustry, or others. Be modest in promoting one’s own re-
Special Properties of Manuscript Parts The introduction is written in the present sults. Avoid sweeping statements beyond the
tense. true scope of the research at hand.
The parts of a manuscript for the journals Materials and methods. The materials and Tables and figures. Tables and figures
of the American Society of Horticultural methods section completely describes the should be understood even if they are sepa-
Science are outlined in its style manual procedures so that others could duplicate rated from the text of the manuscript. Cap-
(Anonymous, 2015b). Day and Gastel the trial. All of the essential methods and tions should be sufficiently descriptive for
(2011) provide detailed suggestions for each statistical procedures should be included. readers to understand the figures and tables
part of a scientific manuscript. Research locations need to be identified. without referring to the text. This means that
Here are some key points for the principal Recognition for research stations and insti- all abbreviations that are used in a table or
parts of a manuscript. tutes is critical because they make substantial figure must be defined in the table or figure.
Abstract format. The first sentence or contributions to many projects, and may As an alternative, sometimes it is easier to
sentences of an abstract introduce the re- struggle to retain their financial viability. reduce the use of abbreviations in tables and
search question dealt with in the manuscript. Many experimental results can be generated figures. Figure and table legends should in-
The following sentence or sentences sum- on branch field stations, but without recogni- clude keywords necessary to understanding
marize the approach and methods used to tion they can encounter difficulty retaining their content. If a manuscript compares vari-
investigate the research question and where their budget support. ables, such as treatments, crops, or locations,
the work was conducted. The abstract is Avoid naming treatments or processes in the figure and table legends should name the
completed by a concise statement of what a way that introduces the appearance of bias variable or combination of variables that are
was discovered without exaggeration or or unnecessary levels of abstraction. Avoid referred to in the figure or table.
hyperbole. treatment names that anticipate specific re- Conclusions. The conclusions should
The abstract is a miniaturized version search outcomes or are otherwise subjective. highlight the research question and the ap-
of the entire journal manuscript. Both the For consistency, use the same name for the proach taken to shed light on the question.
abstract and the journal manuscript should same treatment or method throughout the Only summarize the main findings of the
be able to stand on their own without each manuscript. current work related to the research question.
other. The journal manuscript itself will Identify key pieces of equipment, sup- Do not mention statistically nonsignificant
contain an introduction describing the re- plies, and materials that were indispens- results, unless it was a surprise that they were
search question in greater detail and a refer- able for the procedures by their model or not statistically significant and that is the
enced background. The journal manuscript part number, manufacturer, and place of point of mentioning them.
has a detailed materials and methods section manufacture. Do not mention conclusions from other
that provides information on the research Use the past tense in the materials and projects or other parts of the same project.
approach. The discoveries and their rele- methods section. If they are important, another scientific
vance to the topic of the journal manuscript Results. Write the results using the past manuscript should be written to describe
are described in detail in the results and tense. them.
discussion. Report what happened. Confine the re- Acknowledgments, authors, and references.
Both in the abstract and in the manuscript, sults to what was actually done and what Individuals making substantial contributions
avoid the excessive use of abbreviations. If an was measured. Also, report what happened to research should be recognized as coauthors
abbreviation will be used, the first time the unexpectedly that was not controlled but of the manuscript. Essential technical staff
term to be abbreviated is used, it is written out could have a bearing on the experimental may be coauthors, even if they do not write or
completely and followed by the abbreviation outcome. revise the manuscript.
in parentheses. Only include results that are relevant to Only those works cited in the text should
The introduction. The introduction starts answering the initial research question and be included in the references. Every work
with a complete restatement of the research omit information that is not relevant to the cited in the manuscript is listed in the
questions. It continues with background in- central focus of the study. Authors (not just references.
formation on the research questions, what non-native English speakers) often find a statis- Funding sources should be recognized by
methods others have used to address the tically significant result not directly pertinent being named in the acknowledgments.

318 HORTSCIENCE VOL. 51(4) APRIL 2016

 Plagiarism Conclusions Chicago Editorial Staff. 2010. The Chicago manual
of style. 16th ed. University of Chicago Press,
All parts of a manuscript need to be Writing scientific journal manuscripts in Chicago, IL.
original and need to be written by the authors. English is a demanding and exacting task. Council of Science Editors. 2014. Scientific style
In discussing the scientific literature, it may The task is even more challenging for scien- and format: The CSE manual for authors,
be difficult to restate a concept in a better or tists whose native language is not English. editors, and publishers. 8th ed. University of
Chicago Press, Chicago, IL.
different way than someone else has already This article outlines general expectations of
Day, R. and B. Gastel. 2011. How to write and
done, but rewording is essential. Providing scientific manuscripts in horticulture and publish a scientific paper. 7th ed. Greenwood,
a reference to the original source does not plant sciences and directs authors to addi- Santa Barbara, CA.
give authors license to copy someone else’s tional resources that can assist them in un- Drubin, D.G. and D.R. Kellogg. 2012. English as
words. derstanding and overcoming the hurdles in the universal language of science: Opportuni-
manuscript preparation. Mentors and re- ties and challenges. Mol. Biol. Cell 23:1399.
viewers can be helpful in clearly advising Garfield, E. 1967. English—An international lan-
Proofreading the Manuscript guage for science. Info. Scientist 1:19–20.
authors of manuscript expectations and pro-
viding constructive suggestions. Marlow, M.A. 2014. Writing scientific articles like
Before submitting a manuscript, read it a native English speaker: Top ten tips for
over carefully to eliminate as many errors as Portuguese speakers. Clinics 69(3):153–157.
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HORTSCIENCE VOL. 51(4) APRIL 2016 319

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