Beware ‘persuasive communication devices’ when writing and reading scientific articles

Olivier Corneille; Jo Havemann; Emma L Henderson; Hans IJzerman; Ian Hussey; Jean-Jacques Orban de Xivry; Lee Jussim; Nicholas P Holmes; Artur Pilacinski; Brice Beffara; Harriet Carroll; Nicholas Otieno Outa; Peter Lush; Leon D Lotter

doi:10.7554/elife.88654

Beware ‘persuasive communication devices’ when writing and reading scientific articles

Olivier Corneille^*, Jo Havemann, Emma L Henderson, Hans IJzerman, Ian Hussey, Jean-Jacques Orban de Xivry, Lee Jussim, Nicholas P Holmes, Artur Pilacinski, Brice Beffara, Harriet Carroll, Nicholas Otieno Outa, Peter Lush, Leon D Lotter

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Comment/debate

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Abstract

Authors rely on a range of devices and techniques to attract and maintain the interest of readers, and to convince them of the merits of the author’s point of view. However, when writing a scientific article, authors must use these ‘persuasive communication devices’ carefully. In particular, they must be explicit about the limitations of their work, avoid obfuscation, and resist the temptation to oversell their results. Here we discuss a list of persuasive communication devices and we encourage authors, as well as reviewers and editors, to think carefully about their use.

Original language	English
Article number	:e88654
Number of pages	6
Journal	eLife
Volume	12
Early online date	25 May 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.88654
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 25 May 2023

Keywords

language
scientific publishing
Human
scientific writing
reporting
citation
point of view

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CorneilleO2023Beware.pdfFinal published version, 285 KBLicence: Creative Commons: Attribution (CC BY)

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Corneille, O., Havemann, J., Henderson, E. L., IJzerman, H., Hussey, I., Orban de Xivry, J.-J., Jussim, L., Holmes, N. P., Pilacinski, A., Beffara, B., Carroll, H., Outa, N. O., Lush, P., & Lotter, L. D. (2023). Beware ‘persuasive communication devices’ when writing and reading scientific articles. eLife, 12, Article :e88654. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.88654

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title = "Beware {\textquoteleft}persuasive communication devices{\textquoteright} when writing and reading scientific articles",

abstract = "Authors rely on a range of devices and techniques to attract and maintain the interest of readers, and to convince them of the merits of the author{\textquoteright}s point of view. However, when writing a scientific article, authors must use these {\textquoteleft}persuasive communication devices{\textquoteright} carefully. In particular, they must be explicit about the limitations of their work, avoid obfuscation, and resist the temptation to oversell their results. Here we discuss a list of persuasive communication devices and we encourage authors, as well as reviewers and editors, to think carefully about their use.",

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AU - Corneille, Olivier

AU - Havemann, Jo

AU - Henderson, Emma L

AU - IJzerman, Hans

AU - Hussey, Ian

AU - Orban de Xivry, Jean-Jacques

AU - Jussim, Lee

AU - Holmes, Nicholas P

AU - Pilacinski, Artur

AU - Beffara, Brice

AU - Carroll, Harriet

AU - Outa, Nicholas Otieno

AU - Lush, Peter

AU - Lotter, Leon D

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N2 - Authors rely on a range of devices and techniques to attract and maintain the interest of readers, and to convince them of the merits of the author’s point of view. However, when writing a scientific article, authors must use these ‘persuasive communication devices’ carefully. In particular, they must be explicit about the limitations of their work, avoid obfuscation, and resist the temptation to oversell their results. Here we discuss a list of persuasive communication devices and we encourage authors, as well as reviewers and editors, to think carefully about their use.

AB - Authors rely on a range of devices and techniques to attract and maintain the interest of readers, and to convince them of the merits of the author’s point of view. However, when writing a scientific article, authors must use these ‘persuasive communication devices’ carefully. In particular, they must be explicit about the limitations of their work, avoid obfuscation, and resist the temptation to oversell their results. Here we discuss a list of persuasive communication devices and we encourage authors, as well as reviewers and editors, to think carefully about their use.

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KW - scientific publishing

KW - Human

KW - scientific writing

KW - reporting

KW - citation

KW - point of view

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DO - 10.7554/elife.88654

M3 - Comment/debate

SN - 2050-084X

VL - 12

JO - eLife

JF - eLife

M1 - :e88654

ER -

Beware ‘persuasive communication devices’ when writing and reading scientific articles

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Keywords

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