BMJ  2004;329:352 (7 August), doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7461.352

Letter

Scientific articles have hardly changed in 50 years

Plain English and minimal Latin may explain readability of 1950s paper...

The first 100% of the full text of this article appears below.

EDITOR—I enjoyed reading Doll and Hill's paper from 1954 (four years before I was born), and, like Smith, I found it easier to read than present day papers.¹

Smith suggested that it was because it used the active voice and little jargon. I would go further and say that it used colloquial English, and only the normal amount of Latin derived words.

In those days patients had operations, done by surgeons, who then put them on antibiotics. Today they undergo surgical procedures, performed, undertaken, or carried out by surgeons, who then commence them on antibiotic medication. The three small red scars that resulted are now scars, three in number, red in colour, and small in length.

To be fair, most medical journal editors filter out this rubbish, but it is perpetuated in outpatient letters and discharge summaries—no doubt to medical secretaries' dismay.

Ty Henry Vaughan, Bridge Street, Llanfaes, Aberhonddu, Powys LD3 8AH HenegMB@aol.com

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Competing interests: None declared.

1. Smith R. Scientific articles have hardly changed in 50 years. BMJ 2004;328: 1533. (26 June.)[Free Full Text]

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scientific articles have hardly changed in 50 years

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