A global study of 7000 researchers suggests that unclear publishing policies place an extra burden on scientists who don’t speak English as their first language. A significant proportion of respondents revealed that preparing manuscripts for English-language journals is the most challenging step in the publication process. A considerable percentage even did not have a solid understanding of some aspects of publication ethics or were not familiar with standard ethics-related guidelines and bodies. The publishing industry should work on how to minimize the additional burden on authors.