Journal of Hip Preservation Surgery Vol. 5, No. 1, pp.
1–2
doi: 10.1093/jhps/hny002
Editorial
EDITORIAL
The importance of language
There is a problem with being English and that, you see, is
my language. Somehow it has become the lingua franca of
science. Strange when one considers that 1197 million
speak Chinese, 399 million Spanish and English can only
boast 335 million. It is the third largest language in the
world [1]. But the number of people speaking is one thing;
where it is spoken is another—101 countries and territo-
ries worldwide, in 94 of which English is the official lan-
guage. And if you count those for whom English is a
second language, then 335 million becomes 1 billion in an
instant. English must not relax, however, as French is on
its tail. By 2050, 750 million will be Francophones [2],
surpassing English in an instant.
To submit a paper in well-constructed English is clearly
of paramount importance, a requirement that is unlikely to
disappear. The first shot is the best shot and many, in a
host of specialties, have looked at the use of English and its
influence on acceptance, influence, outcome and impact.
Although actual knowledge of English is not always critical,
the use of third-party language editing is an advantage, as is
the assistance of an advisor with a high h-index [3].
Journals have discovered that a larger share of English-
language articles in multi-language medical journals is
associated with greater international recognition and fewer
self-citations [4].
But although English is widely employed in the scien-
tific literature, some studies have shown up to 35.6% of sci-
entific publications may not be in the English language [5].
The problem is, citation frequency appears integrally
linked to the language used, papers in English having a 6-
or 7-fold higher chance of citation than papers in German
or French [6]. If you decide to submit in Spanish to a
Spanish journal, and the journal turns you down, work has
shown there is a lesser chance of another publication
accepting you [7]. Some have even recommended that
non-English language journals change their publication lan-
guage, or at least adopt a bilingual approach, as English lan-
guage is associated with a higher impact factor [8], that
key metric that we all love to hate.
C The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press.
V
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The appearance of key publications in a non-English
journal has on occasion been dangerous. Remember
H5N1, bird ‘flu? Chinese researchers reported it in January
2004 [9] based on their findings in south-eastern China in
2003. The English-speaking world thought not to look and
it took until August 2004, when the paper’s authors had
presented their findings at an international symposium in
Beijing that the word was out. Only then did the World
Health Organisation and UN Food and Agriculture
Organisation swing into action. All because the original
paper had been in Chinese and no one had done their
reading.
Of course, these observations do not apply to JHPS as
the journal is in English, and yet I am constantly impressed
at the tremendous linguistic abilities among our non-
English authors. Truth be known, there are a few authors
from non-English lands whose English is better than a
native Brit. Some of our non-English authors follow lan-
guage by the book.
English or non-English, what struck me as interesting in
our last issue, issue 4.4? Well everything, of course, other-
wise we would never have published. However, the treat-
ment algorithm for ischiofemoral impingement by
Gollwitzer et al. [10] was certainly fascinating, especially
with my impression that we are diagnosing this entity
more frequently than a few years ago. Meanwhile it was
good to learn that the longer one dallied before undertak-
ing surgery for FAI, the less likely one was to have a satis-
factory result. Thank you, Dierckman et al. [11] for that
one. By all means wait and see, but do not wait for ever.
And for this issue, issue 5.1? Again, I am spoiled for
choice but I have much enjoyed the increasing contribu-
tions from our open surgery colleagues. Papers are coming
in from them quick and fast. So, no wonder I was held
spellbound by the Case Report from Sloan and Kamath
[12], who used dermal allograft in a Colonna arthroplasty
when managing a chronic dislocation. And how about the
detailed debate offered by Thanacharoenpanich et al. [13]
as to whether arthroscopy or arthrotomy is required at a
 1
 2  Editorial
periacetabular osteotomy? They appear to leave the way
open for both.
So, as ever, please enjoy this issue of JHPS. It is pub-
lished for you, the hip preservation practitioner, and is
filled from cover to cover with brilliance. I commend this
issue to you in its entirety.
My very best wishes to you all.
Richard (Ricky) Villar
Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Hip Preservation Surgery
R E F E R EN C E S
1. Available at: http://mentalfloss.com/article/67766/worlds-top-20-
languages-and-words-english-has-borrowed-them. Accessed: 16
January 2018.
2. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/pascalemmanuelgobry/
2014/03/21/want-to-know-the-language-of-the-future-the-data-sug
gests-it-could-be-french/#4e5bf0426d58. Accessed: 16 January 2018.
3. Cunha A, dos Santos B, Dias AM et al. Success in publication by
graduate students in psychiatry in Brazil: an empirical evaluation
of the relative influence of English proficiency and advisor exper-
tise. BMC Med Educ 2014; 14: 238.
4. Diekhoff T, Schlattmann P, Dewey M. Impact of article language
in multi-language medical journals—a bibliometric analysis of
self-citations and impact factor. PLoS One 2013; 8: e76816.
Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/jhps/article-abstract/5/1/1/4838320
by guest
on 05 February 2018
5. Amano T, González-Varo JP, Sutherland WJ. Languages are still a
barrier to global science. PLoS Biol 2016; 14: e2000933.
6. Poomkottayil D, Bornstein MM, Sendi P. Lost in translation: the
impact of publication language on citation frequency in the scien-
tific dental literature. Swiss Med Wkly 2011; 141: w13148.
7. Matı́as-Guiu JA, Garcı̂a-Ramos Castellanos M et al. What hap-
pens to medical articles submitted in Spanish that are not
accepted for publication? Neuorlogı́a 2013; 28: 205–11.
8. Vinther S, Rosenberg J. Impact factor trends for general medical
journals: non-English-language journals are lagging behind. Swiss
Med Wkly 2012; 142: w13572.
9. Haiyan L, Kangzhen Y, Huanliang Y et al. Isolation and character-
ization of H5N1 and H9N2 influenza viruses from pigs in China.
Chin J Prev Vet Med 2004; 26: 1–6.
10. Gollwitzer H, Banke IJ, Schauwecker J et al. How to address
ischiofemoral impingement? Treatment algorithm and review of
the literature. J Hip Preserv Surg 2017; 4: 289–98.
11. Dierckman BD, Ni J, Hohn EA, Domb BG. Does duration of
symptoms affect clinical outcome after hip arthroscopy for labral
tears? Analysis of prospectively collected outcomes with mini-
mum 2-year follow-up. J Hip Preserv Surg 2017; 4: 308–17.
12. Sloan M, Kamath AF. Capsular augmentation in Colonna arthro-
plasty for the management of chronic hip dislocation. J Hip
Preserv Surg 2018; 5: 34–8.
13. Thanacharoenpanich S, Boyle MJ, Murphy RF et al.
Periacetabular osteotomy for developmental hip dysplasia with
labral tears: is arthrotomy or arthroscopy required? J Hip Preserv
Surg 2018; 5: 23–33.