Abstract
The readability of scientific texts is critical for the successful distribution of research findings. I replicate a recent study which found that the abstracts of scientific articles in the life sciences became less readable over time. Specifically, I sample 28,345 abstracts from 17 of the leading journals in the field of management and organization over 3 decades, and study two established indicators of readability over time, namely the Flesch Reading Ease and the New Dale–Chall Readability Formula. I find a modest trend towards less readable abstracts, which leads to an increase in articles that are extremely hard to read from 12% in the first decade of the sample to 16% in the final decade of the sample. I further find that an increasing number of authors partially explains this trend, as do the use of scientific jargon and corresponding author affiliations with institutions in English-speaking countries. I discuss implications for authors, reviewers, and editors in the field of management.
Highlights
The successful dissemination of research findings is critical to scientific and societal progress
I observe a correlation of r = − 0.69 (p < 0.001) between the Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) and DCF scores, which is similar to the correlation of r = − 0.72 (p < 0.001) observed by Plavén-Sigray et al (2017), giving further credibility to my implementation of readability score calculations
This visualization—as well as the significant correlations observable in Table 1—suggests a downward trend in FRE and an upward trend in New Dale–Chall Readability Formula (NDC), both implying a decrease in readability over time
Summary
The successful dissemination of research findings is critical to scientific and societal progress. Aside from grand issues like the public’s waning trust in science as an institution (Haerlin and Parr 1999) and greater difficulty of convincing audiences of the accuracy of scientific findings, lie very pragmatic concerns. Prior research has studied the readability of the abstracts of scientific papers. Plavén-Sigray et al (2017) recently identified a substantial downward trend in readability across a broad range of scientific disciplines. This finding has already sparked further studies, like similar work in other fields (Yeung et al 2018), as well as research into how authors can craft abstracts that are more readable (Freeling et al 2019) and how the reporting of scientific results can be improved in general (Hanel and Mehler 2019)
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