Information For Authors
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Note from the 1st language reviewer
Firstly, and most importantly ,our journal is printed and published in the European Union where the Official Language is “U K English” and NOT “American English”, so please ensure that you set your word processor(s) language option to ENGLISH (UK) when preparing texts for submission, and this applies particularly where the final text is the result of a collaboration between authors. Nothing is more irritating to the reader than to find a mix of the two very different language forms in the same text ( and all too frequently in one single paragraph or sentence!) This, together with a grammar check is a simple procedure that can help us to avoid errors in the final printed version.
There are some specific areas where the American English is correct in an otherwise UK English text
- Official names of international organisations eg. United Nations Organization etc.
- Official titles of American publications , and quotations from them
Generally speaking words in UK English rarely use the letter “z” and the endings -ize , -izing and -ization are very rare ( the same applies to the endings -yze, -yzing, and -yzed)
Some specifics
1) Avoid using the passive mood of verbs! In former times academics (and others) considered it was as an acceptable way to express ideas in an impersonal way, but nowadays it is used mainly by politicians who wish to evade the truth in their public statements! There is nothing wrong with using the appropriate personal subject pronoun ( I or we) or perhaps “the writers” or “the researchers”
2) Tenses in English are a complex issue, and nobody expects you to get them correct all the time, but if you are talking about your article , even if the research was done in the PAST, so far as the publication is concerned it is the PRESENT!
The present perfect tense in English is a PRESENT tense and NOT a past tense so if you write for example “ we have examined the results and have found that………” it means that we did something , maybe in the past ( even a few minutes ago!) but the outcome / result is STILL TRUE.NOW ( I.e at the present time! If you are referring to something that is TOTALLY in the PAST (action is FINISHED) then you should use the Simple Past Tense.
Continuity of verb tenses in written English is very important .If you start a sentence in the PRESENT TENSE , all the tenses in the rest of that sentence must also be in the Present Tense ( there can be different forms of present tense , but you cannot switch to the past !)
3) SINGULAR nouns in English ALMOST ALWAYS need either a definite article (the) or indefinite article ( a/an) EVEN WHEN THEY ARE PROCEEDED BY ADJECTIVE(S) or ADVERB + ADJECTIVE(S) e.g “a relatively popular and delicious meal…..” or “the most popular alternative”
“the” refers to a SPECIFIC item , “a” to a NON-SPECIFIC ITEM
PLURAL and SPECIFIC nouns must have definite article “the”
PLURAL and NON-SPECIFIC nouns are the only time you need NO article! eg. Eg “Eggs are a good source of protein”
4) There are a few exceptions ( mostly abstract and uncountable nouns!) but the language check will find those!
Whilst correct grammar is important , please be aware that as in all languages , the “rules”of English grammar change over time . To write good English for International publications you need a modern up to date grammar book written in the ENGLISH LANGUAGE by a native English language writer.
STYLISTIC POINTS
Perhaps more important than all of the above , especially in the age of the Internet, is the International nature of the English Language as the Lingua Franca of International science., which means that in addition to grammatical accuracy all publications need to be presented in accessible , good, and above all READABLE English. Style is important, as without it you can never successfully promote your ideas Internationally. All scientific disciplines have their own specialist vocabularies, but there is no such thing as academic English : there is good English and there is bad English , whether you are a scientist or a celebrated writer of fiction! So you need to cultivate the skill, and perhaps get input from another good practitioner ( preferably a good native English writer) if your written English is not very good!
Finally may I just mention a few “Do’s and Don’ts”
Generally, if you are writing articles in English that may also be published in other EU countries, common sense would require you NOT to write in so called “American English”. If you are fortunate enough to get published in the USA, that will be OK, but British Publishers do not like American English. ( so colour , not color, realise not realize , behaviour not behavior )( oh, and behaviour has NO plural , you must say ‘ types of behaviour’)
- Do not use contractions or familiar slang words/expressions: they are not totally taboo , but best avoided.
- When referring to sources within the text , you can cite one or maximum two names in brackets , but not a long list ( use a footnote if necessary)
- Keep sentences relatively short ( about 15 words max.)
- Do not put long adjectival phrases in front of nouns g.” ….there is a long but certainly not very well documented idea that long sentences indicate erudition which they almost certainly do not!”
- The possessive form with the apostrophe is normally only used for animate nouns ( persons or their names, animals etc ) and not for things. i.e ‘ the top of the table ‘ and never ‘the table’s top’
In sentences be careful when using the infinitive or the gerund, Sometimes they can be used interchangeably with similar meaning but not always .
