Originally published in the March 2009 issue of EON, the ISMTE newsletter, available at www.ismte.org.
Overcoming the Language Barrier in a Global Academic Community
Laura Stemmle, PhD Duke University
Editing Director, American Journal Experts
As science and technology have moved to the international stage, English has become the common language of communication. For non-native English speakers, this often presents a challenge when it comes time to write a manuscript. Scientists, reviewers, and journal editors alike experience the frustration of language barriers; and in many cases, a substantial bias exists against otherwise good work that is difficult to read. For this reason, the number of online professional editing companies dealing primarily with technical academic manuscripts has solidified and the market has matured.
Often it falls to the journal editor to find and recommend language editing options to authors when a manuscript is rejected on English grounds, so it is important for journal editors to have a general knowledge of the language-editing marketplace. For the past several years, I have worked as a contract editor, full-time managing editor, and editing director for one such company, American Journal Experts (AJE). In this capacity, I have seen firsthand the increased need and demand for English editing services by the international academic community.
In the past, most technical editing was done by professors who edited on the side. This resulted in high quality work, but was expensive, time-consuming, and required a lot of customer interaction, which is difficult for non-native speakers. Less expensive services dealing with a much broader range of documents also existed, but they lacked subject matter expertise and, therefore, produced a much lower-quality product. When AJE entered the market 5 years ago, the average turnaround time for editing a technical manuscript was 12 days, and small companies were unable to scale their service to meet the demand of the global academic community. Our company recognized the need for a more streamlined, subject-specific, technical editing service and pioneered a much higher-efficiency system by utilizing state-of-the-art software and a large pool of topic-specific editors.
The majority of today’s technical editing companies employ full- or part-time editors with terminal degrees in science or medicine and a proven publication record. Some even provide profiles of their editors and allow customers to choose a specific individual for their project. AJE, on the other hand, recruits part-time contract editors working as PhD candidates, postdoctoral fellows, or professional students at ten internationally well recognized US universities to serve as primary editors. Full-time managing editors match papers with the best editors for the job based on their areas of expertise and the quality of their previous edits. Quality control also is provided by the managing editors, who carefully review the work of the primary editor and make additional corrections before sending the paper back to the customer. All editors are given scores and feedback from the managing editors for each assignment, which allows us to track editor quality and assign papers appropriately.
The customer population requiring English editing services is incredibly diverse and includes individual researchers from hundreds of countries. In our company, submissions from China, Brazil, and South Korea predominate, but still comprise only a small percentage of our total submissions; our customers come from more than 150 different countries, including international researchers working in the United States. Publishers and journals also work directly with AJE and other companies to outsource the editing of their papers after acceptance; others refer their authors to us and provide a group code for their journal that gives the customer a 10% discount (e.g., http://content.karger.com/resources/authors.asp).
A significant number of our customers are referred to us by journals with a submission that needs further help with language issues, and links to our website and other similar companies can be found as resources for authors on an increasing number of journal Web pages. Often a referral comes directly in the rejection letter or in one-on-one communication between the journal editor and the author. For example, Elsevier keeps a list of reputable language editing services (www.elsevier.com/wps/find/authorsview.authors/languagepolishing) and directs authors to the list in rejection letters. Many researchers are unaware of the existence of editing companies or have a difficult time determining which companies do a good job. An initial push from the journal editor is often necessary to give authors the courage to try a language editing company. After experiencing the positive impact a professional editing service has on their publication record, authors almost never go back to submitting a paper without it.
Online companies offer a variety of services, ranging from copyediting and formatting to the full translation of a document into English. The costs vary widely, and most companies request a sample of the document before offering a quote because there is such a wide variation in writing quality; a poorly written document takes significantly longer to edit than a well written one, so it is logical to treat each paper individually. Our company has found this step to be particularly daunting for customers who struggle with English, so we eliminated the quote-based system and simplified the process of submission by creating a fixed pricing structure based only on the general length of the paper – small, medium, large, or custom – and the requested turnaround time (www.journalexperts.com/pricing.php). This is made possible by having a large volume of work. AJE is by far the largest editor of English academic manuscripts in the marketplace, and our editors realize that although they will encounter a wide range of writing quality, the work averages out over time. With more than 500 specialized contract editors, we are able to provide topic-specific editing in nearly 200 diverse areas of study in an affordable and accessible manner.
Clearly, English editing companies are providing a much needed service to academic and publishing communities. It is increasingly important for international researchers to utilize professional services or find help from willing colleagues to compete for publication in English language journals; and as submissions from the international community continue to rise, the publishers and editors of these journals are finding it more economical and efficient to refer papers in need of editing to companies who specialize in polishing technical academic manuscripts.
"I have used the AJE service for the first time and my manuscript was accepted for the publication in a journal (TIMM C) in a short time. Thanks a lot. I recommend the AJE for all authors, really." Kenan YILDIZ, Sakarya University, Dept of Metallurgy &... read more
K. YILDIZ
