by ecancer reporter Audrey Nailor

English is the dominant language of science and academia - but what about the majority of scientists whose native language is not English?

Writing in another language is a challenge, but it's a necessary skill for scientists who wish to publish in the most prestigious journals - where non-native English authors can face a subtle kind of discrimination. 

Peer review is supposed to focus on the scientific content and quality of a research article, with grammar and language editing being the province of editors and publishers. 

However, papers with multiple language issues often fall at the first fence.

"A misplaced preposition or poor choice of verb can ruin a convincing narrative, reducing the probability of publication in a top international journal and limiting the impact of the research," wrote Dr Meredith Root-Bernstein and Prof Richard Ladle in an opinion piece in the Times Higher Education.  

"Not only is this bad news for scientists struggling to communicate their work, it is also bad for science."

Scientists working and publishing in different languages are not sharing the same information, leading to confusion, redundancy, or simply missed signals.

Further, regional publications can have global impact - and vice versa. The benefits of translation work both ways.

Translation - and language editing services - are a potential solution. Root-Bernstein and Ladle call for increased recognition and support for scientific translators. 

Academic publishing house Elsevier offers translation services with transparent pricing, starting at USD $324.00 for a 500-word piece. A journal article of about 3,000 words costs USD $636.00 to translate.

Of course, authors from low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) suffer the most from the academic language barrier.

With their English skills sometimes not matching up to peer expectations, and lacking the resources to hire translators, researchers from LMICs can struggle to reach the global audience.

That's why ecancermedicalscience also accepts article submissions in Spanish and Portuguese, and if accepted, translates them into English at no charge. Both language versions are published simultaneously.

“I hereby convey my heartfelt thanks to [ecancer] for the valuable help extended to me in preparing manuscript," wrote Dr Neha Modak of Padmashree, India.

"It was so kind of you that you guided me in every step whenever required.”

ecancermedicalscience is a charity-funded open-access journal that operates on a unique "pay-what-you-can-afford" business model. Authors with no funding for open-access publishing may publish for free.