Scientific Research in Plain English

An initiative that allows students and the community to read fact-checked scientific papers in plain English and without AI-generated misinterpretations

When high school and university students begin to try reading STEM research papers, most of the content passes over their heads. This is because research scientists write their papers assuming that their readers are already experts within their fields of expertise.

The thing is, when it comes to becoming experts in a STEM field, all scientists have to start at the bottom of the ladder. By reading research papers, they become more proficient at understanding them.

However, the initial phase of becoming proficient at reading technical papers is like the lag phase during bacterial growth in liquid culture. It’s slow, challenging, extremely frustrating, and a huge deterrent for many who may otherwise have become really successful scientific professionals.

I’ve started an initiative to build a repository of transcribed research papers in simple English and make them available to the community of budding scientists.

These aren’t your typical science summaries you see in most blog posts. They’re your research papers transcribed into simpler English that people outside your field of expertise can read and appreciate.

Click here for my informational blog post and the list of articles in plain English.

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How it works:

• You’re the owner of your story. The transcribed article follows your flow of reasoning, paragraph by paragraph. Therefore, readers will be following the line of thought of the original authors of the research study.

• The complex concepts are simplified and transcribed into plain English, while key terminologies and methodologies are explained. In this way, students can grasp all the main concepts and ideas of the original paper. Afterward, reading the original research paper should be less challenging because they already understand three quarters of the study.

• Unlike AI-generated summaries, every sentence is fact-checked so that the intended meaning of the authors is retained. (More on AI issues here.)

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Benefits to you and the community:

• Your research paper will help younger students interested in STEM subjects and introduce them to elite research papers.

• The goal is to build a resource that school teachers and college instructors can use to introduce students to primary literature.

• Your research study in simplified English will reach a much broader community of scientists, students, and science enthusiasts. This is because your transcribed article will be easier to understand, and people will appreciate your work more.

• You can even incorporate the articles from this repository in your own teaching curriculum.

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I’m looking for research scientists who can contribute TWO things:

• Open access research papers you wish to make available as educational papers for young scientists.

• 250 euros that will help pay for the time I spend transforming your research into simple English so that students and the broader community can appreciate you hard work.

Read the FAQ section below for more details.

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Why ask for sponsorhip (money):

As a freelance life scientist | independent scientific contractor, the time I spend working and providing services to clients and the community is time I need to get paid for. I can’t provide free services and expect to put food onto the table.

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How to send the research paper and how to pay:

1. Send me a message along with the paper’s DOI number so that I can find it.

2. I’ll assess whether I can handle the subject area of your paper. If not, I’ll let you know.

3. I’ll send you an invoice.

4. Once I receive the payment, I’ll get started with the work.

Read the FAQ below for details.

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Thank you !!

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FAQ

• How will you make the plain English articles available?
  For now, I’ll be publishing them on the Medium platform. All the articles will be linked to the article at this URL.

• Can I send you research papers behind paywalls?
  Yes, you can ONLY IF you also include a formal consent letter from the publisher that I have legal permission to do my work and make the story available to the community.

• Do you also offer other science writing services?
  Yes, I do! Contact me so we can discuss what you need. Rates will vary depending on the type of content.

• What if I find that you misinterpreted my paper?
  Don’t worry. I’ll be asking for your feedback on the draft version. You’ll have 4 business days to respond back to me with your reply.
  However, if you request major revisions, you’ll be invoiced for the additional time I need to get the job done.

• 250 eur seems like a lot…
  Actually, for the amount of time I’ll spend on your paper, the requested sponsorship amount is very low.
  For my other writing services, I charge standard science writing and scientific writing rates.

• Can I publish the plain English article elsewhere than with the other articles in your collection?
  Technically, yes. However, placing these articles all over the internet defeats the purpose of creating a repository that students and educators can easily access. The search engines also don’t rate duplicates well in the search results, so duplications are highly discouraged.