"Publish and prosper" is a series of posts about tips for researchers whose first language is not English but who submit papers to journals published in English. The series touches upon not only writing (spelling, grammar, punctuation, usage, and style) but everything else relevant to publishing research papers that journal editors wish their authors knew.

1. Relatively implies a comparison; do not follow it with a comparative form

2. Comparisons are common in research papers : one treatment may be compared with another, several treatments may be compared with one another or with a control, and so on. In discussing the results of such comparisons, be careful to avoid such redundant expressions as: A was relatively better than B. A was comparatively better than B.

3. The words "relatively" and "comparatively" themselves imply comparison and should not be followed by the comparative form of an adjective or an adverb. The above two sentences, therefore, should simply appear as "A was better than B." The word "relatively" is better used as a synonym for "fairly" or "somewhat," as in "A was relatively expensive" [1].

4. References: [1] Allen R (ed.). 1999. Pocket Fowler's Modern English Usage , p. 506. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 623 pp.

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