Chinese Doctors Connecting to the English Publishing World: Literature Access, Editorial Services, and Training in Publication Skills : case report

摘要

In the literature on academic publishing, little attention has been paid to theneeds and concerns of non-English-speaking researchers in professional contexts. Thispaper addresses the gap in that literature by providing insights into the situation withmedical doctors in China. Following an overview of the broad picture, I will report acase study, which was conducted at a major hospital in East China and which aimed atexploring how a group of orthopedic surgeons access the English medical literature andto what extent they seek the support of editorial services and training in academicwriting/publication skills. The results of the study show that the participant doctors tendto rely on their students or overseas personal connections for access to full-text medicalliterature, and they have generally had limited experience with language editorial servicesand academic writing/publication skills seminars. The paper ends by discussing somechallenges while proposing recommendations for enhancing Chinese doctors’ access to thefull-text medical literature, as well as their understanding of the kind of support that can beprovided by editorial services and training in publication skills.