How to write and publish a scientific paper - Barbara Gastel, Robert A. Day 2022

English as the international language of science
How to write science in english as a foreign language
Scientific style

ESL authors [authors for whom English is a second language] can be more precise about language just because it is their second language.

—Mary Boylan

English as the international language of science

English is currently the international language of science. By no means does this demand that every scientific paper be written in English. Papers on findings mainly of local, national, or regional interest (for instance, in agricultural science, social science, or medicine) generally are best published in the language of those likely to use the content. However, when findings should be accessible to fellow scientists throughout the world, papers generally should appear in English.

For huge numbers of scientists, both in predominantly English-speaking countries and elsewhere, English is a second (or third, fourth, or fifth) language. In addition to facing the usual challenges of writing and publishing a scientific paper, these scientists face the challenges of writing in a foreign language and, often, interacting with editors from another culture. Yet many scientists from around the world have successfully met these challenges. This chapter, which is primarily for readers who are nonnative speakers of English, is intended to aid in doing so. The chapter also may be useful to native-English-speaking scientists who want to work as effectively as possible with colleagues or students for whom English is not their native language.