Writing Matters

Arbeitspapier

For papers to have scientific impact, they need to impress our peers in their role as referees, journal editors, and members of conference committees. Does better writing help our papers make it past these gatekeepers? In this study, we estimate the effect of writing quality by comparing how 30 economists judge the quality of papers written by PhD students in economics. Each economist judged five papers in their original version and five different papers that had been language edited. No economist saw both versions of the same paper. Our results show that writing matters. Compared to the original versions, economists judge edited versions as higher quality; they are more likely to accept edited versions for a conference; and they believe that edited versions have a better chance of being accepted at a good journal.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 16571

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; General Economics: General
• Subject: academic writing ; writing quality ; economics ; randomized experiment

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Feld, Jan ; Lines, Corinna ; Ross, Libby
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2023

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/282698
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:41 AM CET