Shared Responsibility for a Clear and Accessibly Written Scientific Paper

In this paper, a hypothesis of shared responsibility for a clear and accessibly written scientific paper published in a scientific journal is put forward and discussed. Among the parties sharing the responsibility, i.e. the author, the peer reviewer, the editor-in-chief together with the editorial board, and the language editor, the author has the greatest responsibility. Producing a clear and reader-friendly text to present a scientific content in a proper way is not an easy task for the author. The purpose of this paper is, therefore, to highlight some important issues related to scientific writing, such as the structure of the paper, precision and clarity of the text, terminology, abbreviations, and spelling. The challenges of academic writing are illustrated by characteristic examples taken from the papers published in the Transactions of FAMENA. Some experience-based tips on how to develop academic writing skills and recommendations for improving the quality of the text are given in conclusion.