Self-mention and uncertain communication in the British Medical Journal (1840–2007): The decrease of subjectivity uncertainty markers

Abstract The communication of a scientific finding as certain or uncertain largely determines whether that information will be translated into practice. In this study, corpus 80 articles published in the British Medical Journal for over 167 years (1840–2007) is analysed by focusing on three categories uncertainty markers, which explicitly reveal writer’s subjectivity: (1) I/we epistemic verbs; (2) modal and (3) non-verbs conveying personal opinions. quantitative analysis shows their progressive decrease time, can due to several variables, including evolution medical knowledge practice, changes research within community, more stringent guidelines writing (regarding types articles, structure rhetorical style).