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China is the world leader in the quantity of scientific publications, with a total of 426,000, or nearly one-fifth the total number of 2016 science and engineering papers listed in the Scopus database, according to a 2018 report from the National Science Foundation. Taking into account Chinese-language journals not listed in Scopus, a separate analysis published last year concluded that the country’s overall contribution was even greater, with more than one-third the global scientific articles published in 2016 coming from China. While these numbers point to a greater scientific profile for China, they also mean that an increasing number of researchers for whom English is not their first language are now navigating the complex submission and peer review system.
“For better or worse, English is the language of science,” says Tom Lang, a consultant and freelance editor of scientific papers. He notes that poor English can ...
