Tips on Successful Publication in the English Language

Tips on Successful Publication in the English Language
The current position of English as the language of choice for a wide variety of academic and scientific writing means that scholars from countries all over the world now find themselves writing in English in order to disseminate their research, whether they are publishing it as articles in scholarly journals or posting it on internet blogs. Unfortunately, the education systems of countries can differ markedly and many authors are simply not trained in the methods, expectations and ethics of scholarship in the English-speaking world, so the transition to writing up the results of research in English and successfully reaching and influencing an English-speaking audience can be formidable and far from smooth. A few tips may therefore prove helpful.

First and foremost is the need to maintain a high standard of scholarship and scholarly ethics at all times. Engaging in plagiarism, falsifying results, providing dishonest reviews and other similar practices are never acceptable. Your methodology, your use of sources, your reports of your findings, your analysis of those results and your conclusions about the meaning and implications of your research should always be guided by integrity, logic and exactitude. Producing and discovering revealing evidence through sound and replicable research procedures lie at the heart of scholarship in the English language, and that evidence must be presented accurately and with precision as you work to develop an academic or scientific argument and persuade your readers of its value and validity. Skipping vital steps or misrepresenting the research you or other scholars have done are never the answer even if they seem expedient or effective at the time.

Familiarising yourself with the content and structure of articles, books and blogs in your discipline and subject area will provide you with models for your own research and writing, but do be sure to choose texts that will serve as excellent examples. Some of the writing you use in this exemplary way to adjust and improve your own work should be written by well-established and highly respected academics or scientists in your field. It can also be helpful to read a little beyond your field to see how patterns and procedures differ among scholars with different focuses, and consulting texts written by scholars from a variety of places can be productive as well. Pay special attention to when and how citations, quotations and references are integrated into scholarly English prose and ask yourself how other academics or scientists trained in circumstances similar to your own are successfully negotiating the route to successful publication in the English language. You can then do your best to incorporate your answers into your own approaches, but if you are writing for an international audience about research done in your own country or particularly applicable to that country, a delicate balance may well be required. You will need to retain elements of the local context and its culture while describing the phenomenon or problem you are investigating in order to demonstrate the importance and value of your research, but you will also need to present that local significance in a much broader international context so that it is clear why your research and its results are important to the wider scholarly community and other more general readers.

Remember that mentors and colleagues who have successfully published their scholarly writing in the English language can be immensely helpful. As knowledgeable and highly educated readers who are familiar with scholarly conventions and expectations, they can give you critical feedback on your work, and their comments may be especially useful and constructive if they have already faced and successfully negotiated the scholarly transition from another language to English. Professional proofreaders and editors can also provide invaluable assistance, particularly if you are having difficulties with writing clearly and correctly in the English language or with following the guidelines provided by scholarly journals and publishers.