Australian-led paper urges academic publishers and journals to support non-native English speakers
Academic journals are failing to sufficiently help non-native English speakers publish their research, an Australian-led study has found.
The predominance of English in scientific publishing creates a barrier to the generation and transfer of scientific knowledge, “hindering the ability of scholars and communities to address global challenges and achieve diversity and equity in science, technology, engineering and mathematics”, it said.
The paper, published in the online Proceedings of the Royal Society B on 13 March, said that “publishers and journals should provide a fair system that supports non-native English speakers and disseminates knowledge across the globe”.
The study looked at the policies of 736 journals in biological sciences and found “a grim landscape where most journals were making minimal efforts to overcome language barriers”.
Publications that were not in English were also less likely to be cited.
Journals owned by scientific societies tended to have better inclusivity policies, but open access and having editors from non-English-speaking countries did not correlate with better policies.
Power dynamics
The solution is a “renegotiation of power dynamics between publishers and editorial boards”, the paper said, and more action by scientific societies, which “have the responsibility to revise discriminatory practices and commit resources that support greater opportunities for members from historically marginalised groups, including scholars with limited English proficiency”.
“We urge academic publishers and journals to revise their policies to identify any linguistic discrimination, educate themselves on scientific evidence related to language barriers and the experience of their readers and potential authors, and commit resources to implementing linguistically inclusive policies.”
It added: “Scientific societies demonstrably can play a critical role in fostering cultural shifts and we advocate to support community-led initiatives aimed at overcoming language barriers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.”
The paper’s authors came from several nations and were led by Henry Arenas-Castro from the University of Queensland’s environment school.