Q: Is there any convention that requires the use of the first person plural even for a single-author paper?

Detailed Question -

I wrote an English manuscript and used a language editing service. I am the sole author of the paper, but the editor corrected all "the author" and "I" to "the authors" and "we". Is there any convention to always mention the author in plural form?

1 Answer to this question
Answer:

It is preferable to use the first person, that is, "I" or "we" instead of the third person, that is, "the author" or "the authors." However, you should never use "we" for a single-author paper as it can be misleading. It is fine to use "I" since you are the sole author of this paper.

Related reading:

Is it acceptable to use the first person in scientific writing?

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