Writing Medical Papers in Comfortable English to be Accepted by Internationally High Class Journals

Abstract

A Japanese medical paper grammatically translated into English may not be accepted by elite international journals. The problem lies not with the language, but the title and structure of the Japanese papers. Indicative titles must be changed to informative titles. The introduction should consist of current knowledge, unknowns, and problems of the subject discussed. The discussion section may end with words stressing the value of the conclusion. In Japanese, medical terms comprise nouns, whereas in English, nouns and verbs are used in medical terms. The right usage of medical verbs, omission of unnecessary words and phrases common in Japanese papers, and "simple and clear statements" would improve the flow of English. For example, "Complete removal of the tumor of the patient was performed" may be rephrased as "The tumor was completely removed;" omitting the unnecessary word "patient," improved the flow of the English.