Academics need to conduct comprehensive literature reviews, which requires them to find and access the most relevant research for their own work. Researchers must also ensure every paper they discover is thoroughly read, properly comprehended, evaluated for relevance, and referenced appropriately when building and developing their own research work.
This seems straightforward enough, until you consider that over 5 million new research papers are published every year,(1) expanding the pool of knowledge researchers need to navigate. Add to this the language barriers for researcher with English as a second language and the task becomes even more challenging. In this article, we delve into the research reading challenges faced by non-native English speakers and how R Discovery simplifies the process by providing them the option to listen to research in their own language.
Research Reading: Added Challenge for Non-English Researchers
Researchers globally need to tackle information overload, overcome time constraints, and manage multiple responsibilities, which leaves them little time to keep up with critical research reading. But for non-native English speakers, language proficiency is an added hurdle, making it more difficult for them to keep up their pace of reading and not miss out on any relevant research.
A survey of 900+ scientists published in PLOS showed that compared to native English speakers, those with moderate English proficiency take 47% longer, and those with low English proficiency take as much as 91% more time to read English language papers. Even when it comes to writing, the survey showed that non-native English speakers need 51% more time to write a paper.(2)
And despite the additional time and effort they put in, they are more likely to face rejection from journals based on their English language competency. Recognizing this need, R Discovery, the top-rated literature search and reading app, has expanded its audio capabilities to transform the research reading experience for researchers with English as a second language.
R Discovery Introduces Multilingual Audio To Accelerate Research Reading
Harnessing over 21+ years of experience working with academics worldwide, R Discovery realized that researchers are most productive when reading research papers in their first language, allowing them to quickly comprehend complex concepts and streamline their literature reviews. This helped the team develop innovative features to help non-native English-speaking researchers overcome any language barriers and speed up their research process.
R Discovery first introduced the translation feature, allowing users to translate and read research in 30+ languages. Seeing users reap the benefits of this feature, inspired R Discovery to expand its audio capabilities to empower academics to not just read, but also listen to research in their own language. Users can choose to read articles or use multilingual audio capabilities to read and listen to papers in your native language while doing mundane tasks such as driving, working out, or travelling. These features are already popular among thousands of researchers on the R Discovery app and website, who love it because it helps them understand concepts faster and improve their productivity levels.
While other platforms may offer research translation, R Discovery was the first to offer academics the option to listen to full-text papers and audio summaries in their native language. R Discovery empowers researchers to listen to over 40 million open-access and full-text papers for free in their native language, if the license for those papers permits. When such papers are not freely available on public platforms, researchers can upload their own full-text files and listen to papers on the go.
On R Discovery, users can also summarize full texts and instantly generate audio summaries in their native language, listen to key points and navigate to specific sections. This helps researchers make a better decision while choosing the right research paper and understanding the content published. What’s more, users can also browse top publisher channels on R Discovery and listen to audio playlists for highly cited research papers. This makes keeping up with research as easy as listening to your favorite music on Spotify!
How to Listen to Research Papers in Your Language on R Discovery
Here’s a detailed guide on how you can listen to full-text research papers or audio summaries in your native language on R Discovery.
Step 1: Download the free app and create your account.
Step 2: Go to the Homepage select “Full text audio” card
Step 3: Click on upload and choose the file from your device. You can also upload paper from article pages to save full texts against your saved papers.
Step 4: Select the language of your choice and whether you want both full text and summary audios.
Step 5: Proceed to upload and enjoy complete text and summary audios in your native language
Step 6: Engage with audio as you like, change sections, change speed of audio or read text along inside audio player.
Our Vision: Transforming Academic Research Through Innovation
Since its inception three years ago, R Discovery has been dedicated to empowering researchers; it has introduced several innovative features that give academics the choice over what, where, and how they read research. As the number one literature search companion for over 3 million users, R Discovery helps you find, access, consume, organize and share research, streamlining the reading process and fuelling new discoveries that advance knowledge in your chosen field. And we’re just getting started. To access multilingual audio along with a host of innovative features tailored to accelerate your literature search and reading, start your one-week free trial with R Discovery now!
References:
- Number of Academic Papers Published Per Year. Wordsrated website (June 2023). Available online at https://wordsrated.com/number-of-academic-papers-published-per-year/
- Amano T, Ramírez-Castañeda V, Berdejo-Espinola V, Borokini I, Chowdhury S, Golivets M, et al. (2023) The manifold costs of being a non-native English speaker in science. PLoS Biol 21(7): e3002184. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002184
R Discovery is a literature search and research reading platform that accelerates your research discovery journey by keeping you updated on the latest, most relevant scholarly content. With 250M+ research articles sourced from trusted aggregators like CrossRef, Unpaywall, PubMed, PubMed Central, Open Alex and top publishing houses like Springer Nature, JAMA, IOP, Taylor & Francis, NEJM, BMJ, Karger, SAGE, Emerald Publishing and more, R Discovery puts a world of research at your fingertips.
Try R Discovery Prime FREE for 1 week or upgrade at just US$72 a year to access premium features that let you listen to research on the go, read in your language, collaborate with peers, auto sync with reference managers, and much more. Choose a simpler, smarter way to find and read research – Download the app and start your free 7-day trial today!
