78% of manuscripts submitted to web of science journals are rejected due to English issues. Know how to avoid common language errors in your document.

It is a known fact that the quality of an article can be made or ruined on the fundamentals of its spelling, punctuation and the grammar associated with it. A good paper can be further enriched with effective language and at the same time, in contrast, use of poor or faulty language can make the document look puzzling, blurred, and disordered.

As a researcher when you submit documents for publication, you must be aware that most of the papers are sent back or rejected straight from the desk of the editor because of grammar or semantic issues.

Some of the main language errors that are made by researchers are:

1. The typo errors: Typos are common to find in documents. This is despite the fact that we have loads of spell check tools available. If your document is loaded with a lot of typos, surely it is carelessness on your part. The best way to avoid the typos is to use a spell check that is relevant to the content of your document. In addition to doing that, you must manually scan it to identify any errors that got left out in the computerised process. Giving your brain and eyes a gap of a day or more is a good idea as it allows to look at it with a fresh perspective and mind-set.
2. Using the wrong word: The clarity of the word meaning and its relevance to context is very important, so you got to make sure that the choice of words is very appropriate. Often because of the wrong choice of words, the message doesn’t come to the reader in the way that it is intended. The best way to solve this problem is to keep a dictionary handy so that when you feel unsure of a particular word, you can check its meaning and relevance. If you are an ESL scholar, you can always have a third person read your document and give relevant feedback.
3. Using excessively long sentences: Using complex and very long sentences is not an uncommon thing seen in scholars. With research, and its theme in itself being complex most of the time, it is important that the sentence structure be simple and easy to comprehend. You can avoid this by making a conscious effort that the sentence structure of your write up is kept uncomplicated. The rule that is applicable globally, is about 25 words maximum in a sentence.