Free help for scientists and translators.

The recently updated EASE Guidelines for Authors and Translators of Scientific Articles1 are reproduced in this issue2 by permission of the European Association of Science Editors (EASE). Their major objective is to help scientists from all over the world to communicate the results of their research effectively.3 This increases the probability that the manuscripts will be published in high-quality journals and cited frequently. Attention is paid also to ethical issues, such as authorship, acceptable secondary publication, and avoidance of plagiarism.4

The guidelines have already been translated by volunteers into 17 languages, e.g. Arabic, French, Persian, and Spanish. All the language versions can be downloaded for free as PDFs from the EASE website (www.ease.org.uk). Individual sections of the document, including 8 appendices on selected issues (in English only), can be also read directly on the website, with hyperlinks to on-line references.

Most of the guidelines are formatted as bullet points, with key phrases printed in bold. The section COMPLETE explains what kinds of information need to be included in individual parts of the manuscript (reminding about those that are often overlooked, e.g. gender of patients). The manuscript ought to be logically organized, linking the research question(s) to the answer(s).5 Special attention must be paid to making the abstract highly informative because many people will read only the abstract. The next section of the guidelines – CONCISE – stresses the importance of limiting the number of references6 and deleting unnecessary repetitions, obvious statements, and other redundant fragments. The section CLEAR emphasizes that authors and translators should do their best to make the text understandable. For example, they need to explain less known scientific terms and abbreviations, but also avoid very complicated sentences.

Non-commercial printing of the PDFs is allowed, so the whole document or individual appendices can be used as handouts for postgraduate students. Courses in scientific writing and ethics can be developed also on the basis of the list of references and further reading. We hope that popularization of the guidelines will help to increase the efficiency of scientific communication worldwide.7