TY - JOUR TI - Beware ‘persuasive communication devices’ when writing and reading scientific articles AU - Corneille, Olivier AU - Havemann, Jo AU - Henderson, Emma L AU - IJzerman, Hans AU - Hussey, Ian AU - Orban de Xivry, Jean-Jacques AU - Jussim, Lee AU - Holmes, Nicholas P AU - Pilacinski, Artur AU - Beffara, Brice AU - Carroll, Harriet AU - Outa, Nicholas Otieno AU - Lush, Peter AU - Lotter, Leon D VL - 12 PY - 2023 DA - 2023/05/25 SP - e88654 C1 - eLife 2023;12:e88654 DO - 10.7554/eLife.88654 UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.88654 AB - Authors rely on a range of devices and techniques to attract and maintain the interest of readers, and to convince them of the merits of the author’s point of view. However, when writing a scientific article, authors must use these ‘persuasive communication devices’ carefully. In particular, they must be explicit about the limitations of their work, avoid obfuscation, and resist the temptation to oversell their results. Here we discuss a list of persuasive communication devices and we encourage authors, as well as reviewers and editors, to think carefully about their use. KW - scientific writing KW - scientific publishing KW - citation KW - reporting KW - language KW - point of view JF - eLife SN - 2050-084X PB - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd ER -