Weaknesses in publishing: identify, correct and strengthen

Without doubt, one of the greatest barriers in publishing faced by many Asian, African, South American and Middle Eastern scientists is their language-based difficulties. English has most likely become the leading language of scientific publications, even though there are strong but isolated pockets of journals published in local languages. Thus, scientists who are non-native English speakers will find English to be their number one priority, after the scientific content of their manuscripts. This article details my frank interpretation of what I see as being the greatest hurdles that need to be overcome if science writing is meant to be improved other than the scientific content itself, and how to make measured choices that would ensure the best representation of their work. I provide personal, concrete measures and advice on how a young and budding scientist, or even an established scientist mainly from non-English speaking countries, could tackle non-science-related problems. This advice has been formulated from personal experience as a scientist, writer, consultant, editor and director. I hope that it will prove useful to the readers either as a refresher-type ‘course’ or as a learning experience for those embarking on a new journey into science publishing and writing