Scientific writing for enjoyable reading: How to incorporate style into scientific manuscripts

摘要

Communication and progress are at the core of medical and scientific writing. Since the inception of scientific journals, authors and reviewers have striven to produce original, informative articles, yet often overlook style. Over 25 years ago, Crichton aptly dubbed medical writing "awkward." Unfortunately, not much has changed. A dry, formulaic tone and circumlocution take the place of style in this genre and conceal the important parts of the article, forcing reviewers to sift through verbal clutter to find the underlying message. Editors and reviewers continue to draw attention to the mediocre writing in the articles they receive and to stress the necessity for simple, unambiguous language.