The readability of scientific texts is decreasing over time.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Plaven-Sigray P
PROVIDER: S-EPMC5584989 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Sep
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
The readability of scientific texts is decreasing over time.
Plavén-Sigray Pontus P Matheson Granville James GJ Schiffler Björn Christian BC Thompson William Hedley WH
eLife 20170905
Clarity and accuracy of reporting are fundamental to the scientific process. Readability formulas can estimate how difficult a text is to read. Here, in a corpus consisting of 709,577 abstracts published between 1881 and 2015 from 123 scientific journals, we show that the readability of science is steadily decreasing. Our analyses show that this trend is indicative of a growing use of general scientific jargon. These results are concerning for scientists and for the wider public, as they impact ...[more]
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