Writing in the Sciences: Scientists as Writers, Scientific Writing, and the Persuasive Story

Writing in the sciences transcends the notion of sticking to the data. Writing is a complex transformation of a wealth of semi-ordered information into a clear and persuasive scientific story. The formalised form of a research article contains this story and, if published, legitimises it. This empirical study provides a nuanced, empirically-driven appreciation of scientific writing before writer and text are mediated by the competition for and accounting of authorship. It builds on a qualitative study of writing (n=22) and elucidates essential features of writing such as the hermeneutics of the scientific story, different modes of writing as iteration and collaboration, spanning across levels of seniority and position. Furthermore, this study delivers a new perspective on professional scientific writers—trained scientists who provide writing-as-a-service but often remain invisible in attributions of authorship. The structure of this article is as follows. The introduction provides an overview of the literature and elaborates the central research questions (1). We then define our area of research in terms of actors and discuss our research design (2). Thereafter (3), we present and contextualise empirical findings along central themes such as: the writing journey, the division of labour in scientific writing, the meaning of style and storytelling, the relation of writing practices and authorship, and the position of the scientific writer. Finally (4), we conclude, expounding on the intermediatory functions of scientific writing in the broader context of knowledge production, and provide a comprehensive outlook.