最近休假，想着做点饶教授那样关乎科研环境的事情，就做了个关于SCI论文language问题的调查，得到若干杂志编辑的回复。除了调查涉及的问题外，有些主编还提及对中国大陆科研环境和学者的印象，十分令人担忧。值得所有同道共同面对。选摘其中一位主编的主要评论内容如下：

Dear Dr. Wang,

I think you under estimate the problem, especially with China. As a journal editor-in-chief, we publish papers out of China and frankly I find that the use of American English is not any worse than our submissions from countries like Brazil, Spain, Korea, or Japan for examples. That said, what is the major problem is the impression of scientific misconduct in China and the pressure officials put on scientists to publish in high impact journals or to publish on a timeline. This pressure will cause a number of individuals to commit acts of scientific misconduct. As such, this is a big concern......Language can be improved, bad science cannot be as easily improved. So, it’ll be interesting to see what you find. I suspect the relative impact factor of the journal will come into play in your survey.
In the U.S. there is always an element of bias towards one set of institutions vs another by study sections. Although I try to be institution blind, it happens. I think there is somewhat of a bias against science from certain countries and that is a problem. No one is going to admit to it, but for years I have cringed when received manuscripts from certain countries, China being one of several.  However, I cringed because the science was just horrible and the results over-interpreted. When English use is very good, I fear I am seeing a manuscript that has already been published. When it is so bad, it is hard to review and the peer-review system is already over-burdened. That leaves me looking for excuses to reject without review, but in the end, a manuscript with poor use of American English is not rejected based upon anything other than science.