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This article appeared in the Spring 1996 edition of Short Words, the newsletter of Tim Albert Training. It was written by Richard Smith, editor of the BMJ.

Writing for journals: an editor pleads for simplicity

All experts on writing style agree that the active voice is preferable to the passive. But medical writing is full of passive verbs.

Those who shudder at the mention of grammatical terms need not worry: this one is simple. Active use of verbs is:

I hit the table.
She wept large tears.
The doctor inserted her finger into the rectum.

In the passive voice these sentences read:

The table is hit by me.
Large tears were wept by her.
The finger of the doctor was inserted into the rectum.

I am now picking the next three papers from the pile submitted to the BMJ that I have to read, and I am confident that they will be written mostly in the passive - particularly the summary and the methods. And - surprise, surprise - I'm right.

For example: 'Results of 1069 fine needle aspiration biopsy samples of thyroid lesions were analysed...'

I suggest: 'We analysed 1069 samples from fine needle aspirations of thyroid lesions.'

Many medical writers will be thrown into a panic by my translation. 'We can't say "we". It's not scientific.' But why not? You did it. You own up and take responsibility. If it's wrong, it's your fault.

The tragedy of scientific writing is that whole generations of young people who started writing 'The cast sat on the mat' and 'Mummy is eating an orange' have been forced to write 'The mat is sat on by the cat' and 'The orange is being eaten by Mummy' because it is more scientific.

Nobody knows why it is supposed to be more scientific, but I imagine that it is something to do with the objectivity of science. When we do science we cease to be human: we become objective, blind observers unsullied by vested interest or bias. But it's not true.

We do science, writing, and readers a service by using the active wherever possible.

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