Translating EFL researchers’ writing habits for English language journals

Many of the manuscripts I receive to peer review are written by EFL authors. It could be because I am in an interdisciplinary field that deals with global issues—and therefore multiple languages. It could also be that more English foreign language (EFL) researchers are submitting to English language journals. I suspect it’s both. For me, it’s exciting to see the global knowledge base become more diverse. 

I earnestly hope this shift is happening. It’s evident that some scholarly voices have been privileged over others. Yet there are a variety of reasons certain papers get published or are more popular than others. It could be due to bias in gender, ethnicity or race, language, or any number of characteristics related to inclusivity and exclusivity.  I encourage you to think about the authors that you primarily cite. Do those voices represent a valid and reliable sample of researchers in your field? Do they represent the voices of the people who are the subjects of research in your field?

At the risk of veering onto the tangential topic of bias in published research, I encourage you to seek out good research regardless—or maybe in addition to—the status quo when synthesizing a review of the literature. A habit I’ve cultivated is to add one or more papers to counter my own citation bias.

Shifting back to the topic of EFL researchers publishing in English language journals…here is an interesting blog about the number of academic papers published in a year and the top countries publishing the most journals by Wordsrated. 

I cannot verify the authors’ data sources, but it seems to align with what I’ve read and heard. Some highlights: China published more than a million academic papers for the first time in 2022…exceeding the number published in the US (which previously was in the lead). These two countries by far publish more than any other country. Yet, English language journals still account for more than three times the combined total of non-English language journals (respectively, 35,070 compared to 11,666 according to 2020 totals).

These statistics are overwhelming and fascinating.

Which brings me to my own experience: teaching at an English language university in Asia where the majority of my graduate students were EFL Chinese—all of them with the goal to publish in English language journals (which many realized). Over the years, I noticed some patterns and offer some basic tips here:

Tip #1: Become familiar with text structure

There is no universal journal paper structure. The IMRAD format is currently most common in Western journals, but non-Western journal text structures vary—again, there is no universal structure! This makes direct translation problematic if an author wants to publish results of a study in multiple language journals to improve reach and accessibility. Don’t do it (it is considered self-plagiarism anyway). Pick your primary audience and learn the relevant structural variations.

Check out my free video on structure for an exercise to help you improve paper structure (applicable for any type of journal!): FREE LIBRARY ACCESS here.

Tip #2: Keep language simple

There is a tendency to overuse technical language and complicated syntax. This could be an issue of translation or lack of confidence or both. Gone are the days of obfuscated writing styles in English language papers. Today, the reality is that most papers are not read entirely but skimmed. Complex sentence structures and obscure terminology will turn away even the most dedicated scientist from reading a paper. Write simply. Use accessible language. Avoid jargon.

Wendy Belcher has a chapter in Writing your journal article in twelve weeks on what she refers to as The Belcher Test, which is a step-by-step guide to self-editing your journal paper on a line-level. I cannot overstate the value in applying her method. Here is a link to her website.

Citation: Belcher, Wendy Laura. Writing your journal article in twelve weeks: A guide to academic publishing success. University of Chicago Press, 2019.

Tip #3: Acronyms are a headache

I don’t know if it’s a relic of our transition to text messaging communication and the need to shorten phrases to word bytes LOL, but there has been an uptick in the use of acronyms in academic writing. I reviewed a manuscript last month that had me so cross-eyed, I had to make a cheat sheet for all the acronyms. Needless to say, but I’m saying it anyway, one of my top comments was to reduce acronyms.

Why? Because readers skim and don’t have time to search for the first use. Because different acronyms mean different things in different disciplines—even if you spell it out first, your reader will default to their default. Because it makes it difficult to follow the point—for example, if you have 10 variables and they are all acronyms, despite having a PhD, I will get confused. Because it’s annoying and the last thing you want to do is alienate a reader who might have cited you otherwise.

You might enjoy reading this editorial by Forbes titled 'Study scientists are using too many acronyms: Here are the top 10.'

Tip #4: Use active language

Gone are the days of passive voice in scientific writing—well, mostly. Name the agent doing the thing. It’s permissible to even insert an ‘I/we’ or ‘the Principle Investigator (PI)’ or ‘the research team.’ Active voice facilitates shorter sentences. The challenge with active voice is avoiding repetitive sentence starts: ‘I collected data’… ‘I found that…’ ‘I conclude this…’

I encourage you to create a catalog of sentence starts…first, read model papers (papers similar to your topic) and list examples of active sentence starts that you could copy. Second, I recommend this book (there are surely many more, but I have read it myself):

Citation: Barros, Luiz Otávio. "The only academic phrasebook you'll ever need: 600 examples of academic language." (No Title) (2016). 

Tip #4: Pay for an English-language copy-edit 

I give the same advice for anyone publishing in a foreign language. Or, frankly, any author struggling with writing. English is not an easy language. Even native speakers like me require continual improvement. If you don’t have it on your shelf, Strunk & White’s ‘The Elements of Style’ is a classic that remains relevant. I continually refer to this resource. If you do hire an editor, review the recommended revisions carefully as a clue to improving your writing habits. Make notes on your patterns of behavior so you can break them.

 Citation: White, Elwyn Brooks, and William Strunk. The elements of style. Open Road Media, 2023.

Finally, check out Academic Writing for Graduate Students…

Citation: Swales, John M., and Christine B. Feak. Academic writing for graduate students: Essential tasks and skills. 3^rd ed. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2012. 

It’s not easy to write an academic paper—in any language.

We all struggle for different reasons at different times. The key is to know which of your habits are working against you and focus on breaking those. In doing so, you will develop good habits and reduce your chance of rejection for something that is within your control.

I’ll leave you with this fun paper, titled: ‘The Most Common Habits from more than 200 English Papers written by Graduate Chinese Engineering Students’ by Felicia Brittman. I particularly like her graphic on when to use ‘a, an, and the.’