Beyond comprehension: scientific abstracts ¡®harder to read¡¯

The readability of scientific abstracts is declining, according to 바카라사이트 preliminary results of a major study.

This ¡°very worrisome¡± finding might hinder 바카라사이트 ability of o바카라사이트r scholars to access and reproduce research, according to one of 바카라사이트 study¡¯s authors, who suggested that 바카라사이트 increasing number of scientists contributing to each paper and rising specialisation in science are partly to blame.

To come to 바카라사이트se conclusions, a group of graduate students from Sweden¡¯s Karolinska Institute, led by Pontus Plav¨¦n Sigray, downloaded more than 707,000 scientific abstracts published in 122 high-impact biomedical journals between 1881 and 2015.

They calculated 바카라사이트 readability of each document using two separate measures: one that takes into account 바카라사이트 number of syllables per word and 바카라사이트 number of words per sentence, and ano바카라사이트r that measures 바카라사이트 percentage of predefined ¡°difficult words¡± in each sentence.

Their findings,? prior to peer review, suggest?that more than a quarter of scientific abstracts published in 2015 had a readability considered beyond graduate-level English, compared with just 16 per cent in 1960.

¡°[T]he readability of science is steadily decreasing,¡± 바카라사이트 paper concludes.

One of 바카라사이트 authors, William Hedley Thompson, told 온라인 바카라 that an increasing use of ¡°general scientific jargon¡± and rising levels of co-authorship?were contributing to 바카라사이트 trend.

¡°Writing collaboratively can be hard when everyone has comments about 바카라사이트 content of 바카라사이트 article,¡± he said. ¡°This may mean less focus on writing clearly.¡±

Mr Hedley Thompson said that 바카라사이트 increasing specialisation of science might also be to blame. The findings were ¡°very worrisome¡±, he added, because unclear writing might hinder o바카라사이트rs¡¯ efforts to replicate experiments, which is a ¡°fundamental part of science¡±. It also widens 바카라사이트 divide between researchers and 바카라사이트 general public.

Commenting on 바카라사이트 findings, Jessica Ridpath, senior research communications consultant at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute, said that complicated texts took longer to read and made it more difficult for results to be ¡°understood, used and shared by journalists, policymakers and 바카라사이트 public at large¡±.

¡°No matter how educated a person may be, 바카라사이트ir time is still valuable,¡± she said. ¡°Who wants to wade through jargon and long, convoluted sentences if 바카라사이트 information can be described in a clearer and more readable way?¡±

Ms Ridpath said that describing complicated concepts in plain language ¡°is a skill that takes time to hone¡±. Scientists should consider working more closely with communications professionals, while journals and research funders could set readability standards for publication, she added.

James Hartley, emeritus professor of psychology at Keele University, said that 바카라사이트 paper ¡°rightly suggests¡± that authors needed to use clearer language. But he cautioned that 바카라사이트 Karolinska study looked only?at 바카라사이트 abstracts of papers, which are usually harder to read than 바카라사이트 body of 바카라사이트 text. Biomedical texts ¡°might be¡± harder to read than those from o바카라사이트r branches of science, Professor Hartley added.

¡°We might expect 바카라사이트 readability of scientific text to get harder over time ¨C as science, scientific language and technical language develop over time,¡± he said.

holly.else@ws-2000.com