Quick Tip 3: 代词We的使用

This time we’ll talk about when to use the word “we” in scientific writing.

You should only use “we” when mentioning things your research group did or discovered. Here’s an example:

“we quantify microstructural changes and physiological tissue loading in humans.” - doi:10.1038/ncomms5855

There the authors directly discussed what they did, so they used “we”.

However, you should not use we to refer to people more broadly than your team. For example, in spoken English, it’s common to use the phrase “we think that”, but in scientific writing, it would be better to say “it is thought that” to avoid using “we”.