Publishing in English is associated with an increase of the impact factor of Brazilian biodiversity journals

Abstract English is the lingua franca for scientific communication, but some journals, especially in developing countries, still publish non-English studies. A shift towards publishing in English may promote internationalization and more visibility of scientific journals. Here we compared quality indexes between Brazilian journals that have always published in English and journals that have published in languages other than English. We also investigated whether a temporal shift towards publishing in English led to elevated quality measures. Our analyses covered 16 Brazilian biodiversity journals and accounted for 12640 papers published since 2007. The mean impact factor was on average 55% higher in journals that have published consistently in English, compared to the so-called multilanguage journals. The proportion of publications in English increased to nearly three times the original value in multilanguage journals between 2007 and 2016, and the impact factor tripled during this period. At the same time, the Qualis-Capes classifications (B1-B2-B3) tended to fall. Publishing in English can be a first step to increased visibility, and this is particularly important for biodiversity journals, since Brazilian ecosystems are considered of interest to the international scientific community and nature conservation.

摘要：英语是科学传播的通用语，但部分期刊——尤其是发展中国家的期刊——仍会刊发非英语研究成果。转向以英语刊发论文，或可推动学术期刊的国际化进程并提升其学术能见度。本研究对比了始终以英语刊发论文的巴西本土期刊与使用非英语语言刊发论文的期刊的质量指标，同时探究了随时间推移转向英语刊发是否会提升期刊的学术质量评价指标。本次分析涵盖16种巴西生物多样性领域学术期刊，纳入2007年以来刊发的12640篇学术论文。相较所谓的多语言期刊，一贯以英语刊发论文的期刊，其平均影响因子高出55%。2007年至2016年间，多语言期刊的英语刊发论文占比升至初始值的近三倍，同期其影响因子也增长至原来的三倍。与此同时，Qualis-Capes分级（B1-B2-B3）呈下降趋势。以英语刊发论文可作为提升学术能见度的第一步，这对于生物多样性领域期刊尤为关键——因巴西生态系统一直受到国际科学界与自然保护界的广泛关注。