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Philip Ward is the patron of the "Scientific Writing and Editing Chapter" of TRTF. He has worked as a medical editor for more than 20 years.

At present he is editor of Diagnostic Imaging Europe and DI Asia Pacific, managing editor of ECR Today and European editor of Applied Clinical Trials.

Comprehensible scientific writing is both a craft and an art. Any scientific paper is both self-promotion and image cultivation of the author. It is also the marketing of scientific contents. However, competition in scientific publications is fierce. Well written articles sell better and are published more easily.

Publication of scientific articles is not self-serving. The goal of a good paper is to deliver a message in an understandable way, clear and concise. If the language is pleasant – not necessarily literary – the reader will absorb the contents even better.

The craft can be learned, the art partly too. However, most young scientists do not receive any training in academic writing, although this should go hand-in-hand with education in scientific thinking and ethics. Communication is pivotal for scientific exchange and the end result is really worth the additional effort by the author.

It also means that the hurdles to publish in good journals are easier to clear.

Advice on presentation and writing style is given to prospective authors by the editors and peer-reviewers of some of the better scientific journals, but mostly after the fact – the submission of the paper.

Some universities and other academic institutions have started employing copy editors who help their researchers in manuscript writing.

Clear and succinct writing should be supported, and The Round Table Foundation will try to contribute to it.

Commentary: "The Language we Use."