Co-author keeps rewriting the article in poor English

Question

I am writing an article with a senior colleague. Although English is not their first language, they keep re-writing the entire article in their own words.

I would not normally care, but the way he re-writes it is semi-grammatical and very hard to comprehend, so that I feel I have to change it back to something grammatical after I have figured out what he means. A week or two later, I will find that he has gone back to certain sections and re-written them so that they are in semi-grammatical English again.

I understand that language is not the main priority of a scientific article so as I say this would not normally bother me, but it is having an active effect on the ability of the paper to convey its results, as well as causing me work having to read and understand it to translate it back.

What is the easiest way to get around this issue without coming across as rude?

Edit: Unfortunately the manuscript was rejected by our first choice of journal and the referee comments suggest that the unclear writing style introduced by the supervisor was a contributing factor in this. I'll have to think carefully about how to re-write the manuscript when submitting to a more specialised journal.

Answer 1

This depends a lot on your analysis of their personality. If they are reasonable, then suggesting that you edit the final submitted version will improve the English and make it less likely that the reviewers would ask for corrections should not cause blowback.

"Hmmm, prof, maybe I can improve the English a bit for the final version." If they are primarily committed to the ideas, and not to their "obviously brilliant" exposition, it should be fine for a reasonable person.

But, it is dangerous to offend some advisors. It isn't a question of being rude, but for some, just being honest is enough.

In the former case, I'd raise the issue. But in the latter, just let it go at the end and see what the reviewers say.

You may be wrong about how language is less important in science, actually. Clear writing is needed. For some things, even more needed.

Answer 2

I have refereed many articles and reading poor English is very unpleasant. It's hard enough to understand the ideas the article is presenting without language making it harder.

Also, I have had several advisors and many bosses and uniformly they all valued opinions in this order:

1. opinion from a so-called expert
2. opinion from someone outside the organization
3. their own opinion
4. opinion from a crazy homeless guy on the sidewalk outside
5. my opinion

I've had this experience with advisor/bosses that liked me and thought highly of me. This dynamic is probably at play with you and it is exceedingly unlikely to change in the (hopefully) short time you have to work with this advisor.

Another dynamic that could be in play is that the senior colleague feels a need to put their mark on the paper. This need can come from many places. Maybe their way of writing makes more sense to them. Maybe they feel like they didn't contribute enough to the paper, and this is their way of contributing. Maybe it's a pure dominance play.

Edit: [ Two more dynamics that could be at play. (1) It could be that the colleague is an immigrant and is sensitive about his English because he has been treated poorly by natives. If the original poster is a native, this makes the situation delicate. (2) Some cultures/individuals are much more hierarchical than others. If the colleague leans towards hierarchy then he may need signals from the original poster acknowledging who is in charge.]

I don't think there is a simple way of resolving this conflict. But one way or another, you should have to have a discussion with your colleague. At a minimum, you need to understand where your colleague is coming from. You'll have to be very polite and fawning. His ideas and inspiration are great. Clearly, he is the more learned and knowledgeable party. But please, you're begging: could he allow you to clean up the grammar a little here and there?

Edit: [ I use "fawning" as hyperbole and it may be too strong. but a sincere effort should probably be made to acknowledge the colleague's strengths. ]

If he truly feels that his writing style makes more sense than yours, then you are at an impasse and you may have to go to plan B: wait for the referees to come back with comments.

Good luck

Answer 3

Maybe you should have a joint session. Both of you sit side-by-side in front of a computer and make the final edits together. You two can discus every formulation. The advantage is, you get a better feeling of what your advisor wants to express, you can help him finding the right words, and you can let it go once you sense anger or other negative vibes.

Answer 4

Another alternative is to submit some excerpts with "semi-grammatical" issues to a second opinion of native language and with at least some knowledge on the field and compare with your version of the text. No need to mention the whole situation, just ask which version is clearer/correct. If it happens that they agree with you most of times then explain with all due respect the situation, otherwise consider that can be your limitation.

Answer 5

Plan B: do nothing (since the co-author is more senior) but offer to work on the revision after the paper has been submitted. Any self-respecting editor/reviewer will point out the issues with language.

By offering to do the work on the revision following the reviewers' comments, you will have the last say on the language used in the paper (after all, language is the only thing you disagree with your co-author).

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The Pros:

• You're the last to work on the paper
• The changes to the language of the paper are motivated by third party input (the reviewers), it's not you that's saying that your co-author's language is bad. You can always pretend to be happy with your co-author's work to save everybody's face
• Since the co-author's version was submitted, and the language is likely to be pointed out by the reviewers, you're here to the rescue

The Cons:

• Some things need to happen for this to work
  • The paper being accepted despite the potentially bad language
  • The co-author being happy for you to do the revising
  • The reviewers pointing out the bad language
• You're planning to fix the issue at the very last point in time, which is generally not very prudent
• You're wasting the time of the reviewers and make their work more difficult (as pointed out by some commenters)

Answer 6

Senior colleague? I'd leave it alone. He wants it that way, so it goes.

If there's an issue later, deal with it.

Perhaps he's laying claim to a particular point of the publication, as in, "that sounds like Dr. Joe's voice" or something.

"I understand that language is not the main priority of a scientific article"

True, but we do USE language to clearly convey ideas to one another. If it's not getting in the way of clarity, leave the errors alone, just out of respect.

You could address it straight on, asking, "you've changed this passage back. My editing seemed clearer to me? What do you think?" and then read both excerpts of each instance of this.

Especially if it's quite minor, and DOESN'T impact the conveyance of any crucial detail, you're fine.

Just leaving his errors in, you could be said to be irresponsible, not looking out for your senior. Buuut...you edited...they went in and CHANGED IT BACK! Not the same.

Definitely novel situation. Play it by ear and go by how it feels. Depending on the dynamic between you two, it may not really be an option to discuss, unless he's open to it as well.

Answer 7

Since you say senior colleague, Im assuming this is not your professor. If it is there may be little that you can do.

Complain to your professor and explain what is happening, he is unlikely to want you wasting your time on this kind of nonsense. If he doesn't step in immediately he is not doing his job.

If this doesn't work (unfortunate) then explain the situation to your department chair. When I did this the professor quite literally got yelled at by the chair.

Remember that too frequently "senior" colleagues are simply people who have failed to get a professor job, and hence seem to like picking bones forever more.

Answer 8

There is one very simple solution to your problem. You have to refer to facts not to your own opinion. Such facts could be, for instance, a passage from a respected book in the field. Or an automatic grammar/spell checker such as Grammarly.

You can say, I was not sure about my writing, therefore I checked the text with Grammarly. Here are the mistakes.

In order to effectively argue against this defense, one has to be very knowledgeable about English grammar and style. This program is very strong.