摘要：Non-native English speaking (NNES) authors are increasingly being pressured to get published in accredited international journals. Despite the important responsibility that editors shoulder in deciding the ultimate fate of academic papers,few studies have systematically explored the effects editing might have on specific writing features,whether linguistically or stylistically. That is what we set out to do in the present research. Twenty research articles in the field of dentistry written by NNES authors were randomly selected,and the original versions were contrasted with their edited versions,trying to establish what shortcomings the papers had in terms of Metadiscourse (MD) elements and how far the editing process had succeeded in compensating for those drawbacks. Hyland’s (1998) account of MD in academic texts was utilized as our basis for comparison. The results revealed that NNES authors had paid scarce attention to proper management of MD elements in their manuscripts for effective communication of the propositional content,and that the editing process seemed to have changed little in this regard. It is believed that the findings of this study have some implications for ESP and EAP teachers,especially in academic paper writing classes,as well as for editors.
关键词：non-native English speaking authors;metadiscourse;editing;editors;academic paper
