This Russian proverb was adopted as a signature phrase by Reagan, who subsequently used it frequently when discussing U.S. relations with the Soviet Union.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trust,_but_verify

I was rather surprised, and upset, when I found an email from a journal editor, who wants me to confirm that I edited a manuscript submitted to his journal recently. At the end, he specifically asked me whetheror not I am a native English speaker. This is part of his email: “We would be most grateful if you canprovide your background information in at least one page (for example, a brief CV), without which the manuscript will not be further processed. In particular,please inform us whether or not you are a native English speaker. Thanks.”

It was 10 pm, and I was tired. However, I wanted to help myclient, so I spent at least 30  mins to carefully compose a reply. After hitting “send,” I went to bed. Before I descended into the never land, I decidedto fight this battle: Enough is enough, a journal editor should NOT discriminate authors just because their names are Chinese!

I couldn’t tell whether I had a good night sleep, because I woke up with a vivid memory of a true nightmare—a co-worker’s young, beautiful,smart, and successful daughter suddenly died in my nightmare! I was more upset thinking about the battle I decided to fight, the injustice against Chinese (names).

Here came my second surprise: an email cc-ed to me indicatesthat the manuscript I edited for this client is actually a revised one. OMG! I lost the battle before I even started it! Why? This client was wrong to submit his manuscript without having it edited first (because his English is limited).To me, submitting a manuscript with poor language is disrespectful to thejournal, including its  editor and reviewers. (I am fully aware of the potentialconflict of interest here, since I am a freelance English editor who makes a living by editing manuscripts.) It also starts a vicious cycle: The authors “abuse”the journal, and the journal does not trust the authors so much so that its editor emails a freelancer for verification!

After some debate, I emailed the client and told him what’s on my mind. I wrote: “May I say something, as a colleagueand friend? I have to say that I  am surprised that the version you sent me forediting was already reviewed and revised by you. I wish you had asked me toedit the paper before submitting it for the first time...” He agreed.