Scheda di dettaglio – i prodotti della ricerca
| Dato | Valore |
|---|---|
| Title | Specialized terminology reduces the number of citations of scientific papers |
| Abstract | Words are the building blocks of communicating science. As our understanding of the world progresses, scientific disciplines naturally enrich their specialized vocabulary (jargon). However, in the era of interdisciplinarity, the use of jargon may hinder effective communication among scientists that do not share a common scientific background. The question of how jargon limits the transmission of scientific knowledge has long been debated but rarely addressed quantitatively. We explored the relationship between the use of jargon and citations, using 21 486 articles focusing on cave research, a multidisciplinary field particularly prone to terminological specialization, and where linguistic disagreement among peers is frequent. We demonstrate a significant negative relationship between the proportion of jargon words in the title and abstract and the number of citations a paper receives. Given that these elements are the hook to readers, we urge scientists to restrict jargon to sections of the paper where its use is unavoidable. |
| Source | Proceedings - Royal Society. Biological sciences (Print) 288 (1948)–20202581 |
| Keywords | glossarylinguisticsscientific communicationscientific writingspecialized vocabularyterminology |
| Journal | Proceedings - Royal Society. Biological sciences (Print) |
| Editor | Royal Society., London, Regno Unito |
| Year | 2021 |
| Type | Articolo in rivista |
| DOI | 10.1098/rspb.2020.2581 |
| Authors | Martínez, Alejandro; Mammola, Stefano |
| Text | 452984 2021 10.1098/rspb.2020.2581 Scopus 2 s2.0 85103997236 glossary linguistics scientific communication scientific writing specialized vocabulary terminology Specialized terminology reduces the number of citations of scientific papers Martinez, Alejandro; Mammola, Stefano Finnish Museum of Natural History; Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche Words are the building blocks of communicating science. As our understanding of the world progresses, scientific disciplines naturally enrich their specialized vocabulary jargon . However, in the era of interdisciplinarity, the use of jargon may hinder effective communication among scientists that do not share a common scientific background. The question of how jargon limits the transmission of scientific knowledge has long been debated but rarely addressed quantitatively. We explored the relationship between the use of jargon and citations, using 21 486 articles focusing on cave research, a multidisciplinary field particularly prone to terminological specialization, and where linguistic disagreement among peers is frequent. We demonstrate a significant negative relationship between the proportion of jargon words in the title and abstract and the number of citations a paper receives. Given that these elements are the hook to readers, we urge scientists to restrict jargon to sections of the paper where its use is unavoidable. 288 Published version http //www.scopus.com/record/display.url eid=2 s2.0 85103997236 origin=inward Articolo in rivista Royal Society. 0962 8452 Proceedings Royal Society. Biological sciences Print Proceedings Royal Society. Biological sciences Print Proceedings. Print Proc. Royal Soc., Biol. sci. Print Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B Print stefano.mammola MAMMOLA STEFANO alejandro.martinezgarcia MARTINEZ GARCIA ALEJANDRO |