The European Association of Science Editors (EASE) has recently published simple editorial guidelines for authors and translators of scientific articles (http://www.ease.org.uk/guidelines/index.shtml).This project is aimed to make international scientific communication more efficient and to prevent scientific misconduct. The guidelines advise on how to write complete, concise and clear (=understandable) manuscripts, and explain what is regarded as scientific misconduct. If authors and translators follow the guidelines before submission, then their manuscripts will be more likely to be accepted for publication. The editorial process will probably also tend to be faster, so authors, translators, reviewers and editors will then save time. The guidelines also explain what is regarded as scientific misconduct and provide links to the flowcharts of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
The document is freely available as downloadable PDFs in English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and we plan to add more translations (made by volunteers) in the near future. Moreover, the English version has appeared also in print, for distribution during some major scientific events, such as ESOF2010 in Turin and the AIDS Conference in Vienna. EASE nominated the guidelines for the ALPSP Award for Publishing Innovation 2010. Our association did not receive this award, but the ALPSP judges stated that the guidelines “meet a very real need and very much hope that EASE will be able to secure sufficient endorsement from editors for the guidelines to become a recognised standard.”
