Why publish in English?

During a session of talks I participated in, a Chinese student asked, “Why do the [top international] journals require us to publish in English? Why can’t we simply publish in Chinese?” The student was making the point that in addition to having to learn difficult physics and perform top quality research he would have to master a foreign language in order to fulfill the requirements of graduation. It does seem to be a fair question to ask: Why can’t researchers just publish in their native language to move forward in their careers?

It is important to remember that the primary reason to publish is not to advance one’s career. It is to share your results with the broader community. In fact, there is only one reason publishing is linked to career advancement.  It is a system for ensuring that those who contribute knowledge to the community continue to have the resources to do so.

Therefore, it is best to publish in a language that can be of use to the most scientists. Is English the best language to fill this role? It is useful to ask: What other language candidates are there? The three most common native languages are, in order, Chinese, Spanish, and English. One might conclude that Chinese and Spanish are then better candidates.  Ironically, native Chinese and Spanish speakers would vehemently disagree. Native Chinese speakers would object to having to learn Spanish, because they are much more likely to have already studied English. The reverse is true of native Spanish speakers. When all spoken foreign languages are taken into account, English is by far the most common language with an estimated 1.8 billion speakers. The disparity is even larger in highly-educated populations, because English is the “lingua franca,” or common language for business, technology, and science. [1] In addition, most periodicals with the reviewer infrastructure necessary to handle widespread international submissions are English language publications.

However, it is clear that this is a large barrier to publication for any research groups without native English speakers. In fact, this barrier is likely to have a collective negative effect on the publication rate of universities where English is not the primary language of instruction. At these institutions, it would be in the interest of the reputation of the university to make sure their researchers receive training and good access to language service support. These are both issues that Liwen Bianji wants to work with the Chinese scientific community to address, such as through our training workshops (http://liwenbianji.cn/node/4078) and by offering discounts to institutions or labs that use us regularly.

[1] G. Schiltz, “World-Wide English,” http://www.ehistling-pub.meotod.de/01_lec06.php#11 (2004)

All the best,

Daniel Broaddus
Senior Editor and Trainer, Liwen Bianji
www.liwenbianji.cn

 

中文摘要

为什么要以英文发表论文？

在我之前参加的某个会议上，一位中国在校生曾问过这样的问题：为什么“一流的”国际期刊要求用英文发表论文？为什么不能用中文发表？实际上他想表达的观点是，除了要学习复杂的物理知识、从事高难度的研究工作，他还要掌握一门外语以应付毕业。因此，有这样的疑问看似也无可厚非：为什么科研人员不能用自己的母语来发表文章？

首先需要明确一个态度，发表论文的首要目的并不是为了职业的发展，而是为了与更多的同行分享研究成果。
论文语言最好为大多数科学家所共用，虽说从全球范围上来讲以中文和西班牙语为母语的人数比英语母语者更为普遍，但较之学习西班牙语或中文，相信更多的人会选择英文，更何况英语是最常用的外语。

毋庸置疑，语言仍是影响论文发表的一大障碍，特别是对于非英语教学的大学院校；如果学校可以出面解决科研人员语言培训的资金问题，这对于提高论文发表量亦或是学校知名度都是大有裨益的。

 

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