How do international students w/ language barrier get published?

[Fat_Albert]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I'm curious on how international students that come to the state to pursue their phd get published in journals? For instance, when I was taking analytical chemistry, my TA's English was not the greatest. His responses to my emails was also difficult to understand, but he has been published a few times in chemistry journals, never as first author tho. My professor who taught the course also did not have the greatest English and grammar and he too have published a lot, many times as first author. So what's their secret? I don't know much about publishing and stuff like that, but I have read research papers for lab reports and the writing is complex & difficult to read sometimes, at least for me. I would think you'd need to have strong write skills? I'd like to be published in the future and my writing is straight trash so this is what lead me to this question.

 

[getdown]

I'm curious on how international students that come to the state to pursue their phd get published in journals? For instance, when I was taking analytical chemistry, my TA's English was not the greatest. His responses to my emails was also difficult to understand, but he has been published a few times in chemistry journals, never as first author tho. My professor who taught the course also did not have the greatest English and grammar and he too have published a lot, many times as first author. So what's their secret? I don't know much about publishing and stuff like that, but I have read research papers for lab reports and the writing is complex & difficult to read sometimes, at least for me. I would think you'd need to have strong write skills? I'd like to be published in the future and my writing is straight trash so this is what lead me to this question.

The trick is you get someone else to edit what you write. The PI likely does this for your TA or someone in the lab does it for your professor.

 

[LoveBeingHuman:)]

Don’t let the accent fool you. Many of them are very capable at reading/writing English. Some even more so than your average college graduate.

 

[LAIsTheBestPlaceEver]

I personally find scientific writing easier than any other English writing style.

 

[mistafab]

Lots of times the gist of their writing is pretty good. Editing afterwards you’ll notice a few awkward mistakes that natives dont make - so anyone around them can usually quickly fix their work to make the writing smooth.

 

[RinShanKaiHo]

I never lived in a country English speaking until 18. And I don't speak the perfect English at all, but I scored a 130 on cars lol.

Scientific writing is not about literature but the logic and the science behind it.

 

[moggat]

A lot of reasonably well funded labs and institutions hire science editors to go through papers for submission and correct ambiguous statements and grammar problems. Even for native english speakers.

 

[Goro]

I'm curious on how international students that come to the state to pursue their phd get published in journals? For instance, when I was taking analytical chemistry, my TA's English was not the greatest. His responses to my emails was also difficult to understand, but he has been published a few times in chemistry journals, never as first author tho. My professor who taught the course also did not have the greatest English and grammar and he too have published a lot, many times as first author. So what's their secret? I don't know much about publishing and stuff like that, but I have read research papers for lab reports and the writing is complex & difficult to read sometimes, at least for me. I would think you'd need to have strong write skills? I'd like to be published in the future and my writing is straight trash so this is what lead me to this question.

Their PIs do LOTs of editing! If not them, their colleagues do it for them.

 

[DameJulie]

In one of the labs I worked in, the international student hires an outside editing company that specifically help in publishing manuscripts (under PI permission).

It costs a good fortune though, but the student had private funding so that was not a problem.

 

[Fat_Albert]

I never lived in a country English speaking until 18. And I don't speak the perfect English at all, but I scored a 130 on cars lol.

Scientific writing is not about literature but the logic and the science behind it.

Goals lolz

 

[aldol16]

Two non-mutually-exclusive ways. First, not being able to speak fluently does not mean not being able to write well in a language. Many people can write well in a foreign language but can't speak it very well at all. Two different skillsets and you can learn writing pretty easily compared to speaking since you actually need practice for the latter and have to learn idioms and colloquial speech as well.

Second, manuscripts are usually read several times before submission. All of a manuscript's authors must read the manuscript and give their consent. The PI also reads it and if the PI has gotten to that stage in his or her career, he or she can write well enough to publish.

This doesn't mean that everybody who publishes writes well - I've read my share of poorly written scientific articles. But usually, the data speaks for itself. If you're good at reading articles, the writing isn't what you're focusing on anyway. It's the presentation of data that you're looking at and analyzing.

 

[maplecookie]

Just want to add that the list of authors is usually not restricted to just the first author and last. There's usually a whole bunch of people who are involved and credited who, since their names are going to be on it, probably go through the manuscript as well before it gets sent out.