English is the working language of most science, and most of the people writing it did not grow up speaking it. That is not a disadvantage to hide — it is simply a reason to write plainly. Clear scientific English is not "beautiful" English; it is English that gets out of the way so the reader sees your work. The techniques below help any author, but they matter most when English is your second, third or fourth language.
Short sentences carry more
The single most effective change most authors can make is to write shorter sentences. A sentence that runs for four lines and carries three ideas will lose the reader — and reviewers read tired. Aim for one main idea per sentence. If you find yourself using "which", "whereby" or a third comma, consider a full stop instead.
Prefer the active voice
Scientific writing has a habit of the passive voice — "it was observed that" — which adds words and hides who did what. The active voice is usually shorter and clearer:
| Instead of | Write |
|---|---|
| It was observed that levels increased. | Levels increased. |
| The samples were analysed by the authors. | We analysed the samples. |
| An improvement was seen in the group. | The group improved. |
Methods sections sometimes use the passive by convention, and that is fine — but do not reach for it everywhere out of habit.
Cut the filler
Certain phrases add length without meaning. Delete them or replace them:
- "It is important to note that" → (just say the thing)
- "In order to" → "to"
- "Due to the fact that" → "because"
- "A number of" → "several" or the actual number
- "In the present study, we aimed to investigate" → "We investigated"
Two pitfalls that flag non-native writing
Reviewers are forgiving of accent in prose, but two errors recur and are worth checking specifically:
- Articles (a / an / the). Many languages have no articles, so they are easy to drop or overuse. When you revise, read each noun and ask: is this a specific thing (the) or one of many (a)?
- Tense consistency. Describe what you did in the past tense ("we measured"), and established facts in the present ("water boils at 100 °C"). Switching mid-paragraph is jarring.
One idea per paragraph
A paragraph should make one point and support it. If a paragraph changes topic halfway, split it. Start each paragraph with the sentence that states its point — a reader skimming your headings and first sentences should still follow the argument.
Test: read only the first sentence of every paragraph. If that alone tells a coherent story, your structure is sound.
Get a fluent read before you submit
You cannot fully proofread your own writing — you read what you meant, not what you wrote. Before submission, have a fluent English speaker (ideally in your field) read it, or use a professional language-editing service. Reading your paper aloud also catches sentences that do not breathe. Fix the argument first, then the sentences, then the words — in that order.