Running Like Alice and Losing Good Ideas: On the Quasi-Compulsive Use of English by Non-native English Speaking Scientists

Bortolus, Alejandro

doi:10.1007/s13280-012-0339-5

Cited by 27 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 12 publications

(10 reference statements)

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“…As it has been already pointed out (Bortolus 2012), publishing scientific papers exclusively in English may limit the ability of non-NES scientists to communicate important results to local practitioners and decision makers (e.g., environmental managers). This creates the moral dilemma of deciding whether to publish in English and making the results accessible to a broader audience or transferring knowledge to local experts.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is justified, especially since some studies may be of more local or regional interest than global interest (e.g., research with local applications instead of more theoretical work). If the scientific work has national or regional importance, researchers would like to make this information available to the decision makers in their vernacular language (Bortolus 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Publish (in English) or perish: The effect on citation rate of using languages other than English in scientific publications

Bitetti

Ferreras

2016

Ambio

255

111

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There is a tendency for non-native English scientists to publish exclusively in English, assuming that this will make their articles more visible and cited. We tested this hypothesis by comparing the effect of language on the number of citations of articles published in six natural sciences journals from five countries that publish papers in either English or other languages. We analyzed the effect of language (English vs non-English), paper length, and year of publication on the number of citations. The articles published in English have a higher number of citations than those published in other languages, when the effect of journal, year of publication, and paper length are statistically controlled. This may result because English articles are accessible to a larger audience, but other factors need to be explored. Universities and scientific institutions should be aware of this situation and improve the teaching of English, especially in the natural sciences.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Publish (in English) or perish: The effect on citation rate of using languages other than English in scientific publications

Bitetti

Ferreras

2016

Ambio

255

111

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…English is the dominant language of international scientific communications; publication in other languages and non-English national or regional journals has declined in relative terms over the past several decades (Bordons & Gomez, 2004;Kirchik, Gingras, & Lariviere, 2012;Tardy, 2004;van Weijen, 2012;Zitt, Perrot, & Barre, 1998). At many biomedical institutions in under-resourced countries, scientists and institute personnel may require additional English language skills to read and respond to opportunities for research funding and to develop research articles for peer-reviewed publication (Bortolus, 2012). Where funding applications and publications are written in a native language, funds and human resources for translation of written materials or alternative translation models (Root-Bernstein & Ladle, 2014;Smith, Chen, & Liu, 2008), need to be found in order to submit materials for the English-speaking scientific audience.…”

Section: Open Accessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Applying a Capability Maturity Model (CMM) to evaluate global health security-related research programmes in under-resourced areas

Yeh

Adams

Marshall

et al. 2017

Global Security: Health, Science and Policy

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drain), inability to maintain equipment through service contracts and difficulty in obtaining new state-of-the-art equipment, research kits and technologies. Lacking these resources, research quality will stagnate then regress and, thus, the ability to competitively apply for grant funding will diminish, exacerbating the problem. To maintain an upward cycle, a mechanism to assess and plan for success in obtaining and administering grant funding must be instituted early on, so that mitigation processes can be initiated as challenges are identified.The current lack of an overall strategy and programme structure to assess and evaluate the success of securing and administering research funding will hinder Organisations in under-resourced areas that achieve long-term research sustainability by successfully competing for research funding will not only build their reputation for conducting quality science but also develop their human resources in a manner that reduces the risk of becoming a future security threat. Major challenges to these organisations include identifying and prioritising funding opportunities, securing and administering external grant awards and publishing both the outcomes of research and relevant surveillance data. Lack of a standardised evaluation technique to assess institutional research capabilities poses challenges for identifying and targeting specific, repeatable processes that lead to organisational improvements. Short-and long-term goals, which are challenged by research quality, funding and human resources, need to be established in order to achieve complex missions such as reducing global health security threats. Once baseline capabilities are established, a consistent evaluation technique provides an objective view to complement other steps that enhance capabilities. The capability maturity model, which is often used in business and technology sectors for establishing life cycle and planning sustainment, is a technique that enhances performance by defining three levels of capability (initial, managed and optimised). An organisation can assess its current state of capability ('as is') and develop an actionable strategy for its next progression ('to be'). In addition, application of a CMM aids creation of a strategy for realising a more repeatable and optimised process. Research programmes frequently rely on basic metrics such as the number of peer-reviewed publications and grant funding awards to measure their quality. Our analysis suggests an approach that includes references and tools, especially those that are risk-based, which can be used to establish initial best practices, define metrics, measure outputs and rates of success in a stepwise manner. In addition, we provide a pilot example from a survey of research institutes in under-resourced areas. KEYWORDScapability Maturity Model (cMM); global health security; research ARTICLE HISTORY

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“…The effort to publish in English can be more burdensome for scholars who use English as an additional language [6,7]. Writing, in general, is known to be more difficult and often less effective in a person's second language [8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Proposal for Critical-Pragmatic Pedagogical Approaches to English for Research Publication Purposes

Corcoran

Englander

2016

Publications

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Abstract:Despite the increasing demands on many multilingual scholars outside the centre(s) of scientific knowledge production to publish their research in international scholarly journals, the support for such academic writing for publication is uneven at best. Existing English for research publication purposes (ERPP) instruction typically aims to aid multilingual scholars in achieving genre-based expectations and/or navigating the submission and review process, but it often does not address the politics of English-language knowledge production. In this paper, informed by an empirical case study and a theory building perspective, we address the need for a sustained program of courses/workshops for multilingual scholars in the (semi-) periphery and propose a means of operationalizing a critical-pragmatic approach to such course/workshop content. Our empirically-driven model is informed by the results of a recent case study investigation into an intensive ERPP intervention designed to address multilingual Spanish-speaking L1 scholars' challenges with writing research articles for publication in indexed (Web of Science) international scientific journals. Our model lays the groundwork for a more critical approach to ERPP pedagogy, one that attempts to attend more fully to the needs of multilingual scholars within an asymmetrical market of global knowledge production.Keywords: English for research publication purposes; English as an additional language; academic writing; second language writing; English language teaching; English as a second language; English as a foreign language; scientific writing; science publishing

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Running Like Alice and Losing Good Ideas: On the Quasi-Compulsive Use of English by Non-native English Speaking Scientists

Cited by 27 publications

References 12 publications

Publish (in English) or perish: The effect on citation rate of using languages other than English in scientific publications

Publish (in English) or perish: The effect on citation rate of using languages other than English in scientific publications

Applying a Capability Maturity Model (CMM) to evaluate global health security-related research programmes in under-resourced areas

A Proposal for Critical-Pragmatic Pedagogical Approaches to English for Research Publication Purposes

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