VOLUME 12, NUMBER 4
JULY/AUGUST 1998
© Copyright 1998 American Chemical Society
Editorial Good Writing Is Important Abandoning a paper because poor writing hinders its comprehension is, I suspect, an experience we all have had. For the reader, clarity and brevity save time, save effort, and make work more memorable. For the author, good writing enlarges readership. If interested readers do not finish reading a paper, the work described has lost some value and its impact has been diminished. Good, concise writing allows more papers to be published within our page limit. Unread papers represent wasted time and effort. Pride in the product demands the best writing possible. The writing in this journal could be better. To make it better, we are taking several steps. We will be reading papers more carefully and will return unsatisfactory papers to authors for rewriting. As an aid in this effort, we are adding to the review form a specific question about the clarity of the writing. Where necessary, we recommend that authors consider asking a colleague who is fluent in English to help prepare the manuscript for submission. Papers accepted for publication in this journal routinely undergo a light to medium edit prior to production of galley proofs, but we do not have the resources to perform substantive editing. We ask that reviewers give language more thorough and careful consideration and call our attention as specifically as possible to problems. We do not ask reviewers to correct language and are grateful to those who voluntarily do so. We hope that reviewers will tell us and the authors if a paper is poorly written. Once we are so informed, we will insist on the necessary improvements. John W. Larsen Editor EF9801219
S0887-0624(98)00121-2 CCC: $15.00 © 1998 American Chemical Society Published on Web 06/20/1998
