Declining readability of research on biological invasions over two decades

Abstract

To prevent and effectively manage the socioeconomic and environmental impacts of invasive non-native species it is essential that the underpinning scientific knowledge is widely disseminated and understood by scientists, the public, and other stakeholders. A key need for the public understanding of science is that technical information is easy to read and interpret. Unfortunately, this is not the case for research addressing biological invasions. Detailed analysis of the readability of research abstracts published over two decades in the leading international journal Biological Invasions revealed that texts were very difficult to read and had become less readable over time. Abstracts were pitched at readers with graduate-level literacy, much higher than the average reading-level of the general public. Authors from countries where English was an official language generated the most complex text. However, the abstracts from authors based in countries where English was not an official language have shown a marked increase in complexity since 2001. This reflected a trend for increasing numbers of words per sentence and more syllables per word and was not related to the increase in numbers of authors of an article. Complex abstracts attracted more citations suggesting scientific peers may be more persuaded by a technically challenging abstract pitched towards a readership with high literacy. Urgent action is required to remedy this problem. Ensuring authors and editors review the readability of the work they publish is a first step but more formal mechanisms such as using structured abstracts and the provision of additional succinct plain-language summaries will more effectively address this problem in the future.