The journal Nature respectfully disagrees: https://www.nature.com/nature-research/for-authors/write

> Nature journals prefer authors to write in the active voice ("we performed the experiment...") as experience has shown that readers find concepts and results to be conveyed more clearly if written directly.

I took a look at a few random recent papers at arxiv.org, in physics, biology, math, and economics. They all used "we".

Wikipedia says it is discourage in the social sciences, though, because "it fails to distinguish between sole authorship and co-authorship" [1].

I'm curious now why it is so important to distinguish between sole authorship and co-authorship via writing style. If you are reading the paper itself, a glance at the author list will tell you that.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nosism

This is.. a bit historical. While the passive voice was recommended in the past, most journals and advisors recommend using active voice in papers now.

Thanks for the update. Back when I did my studies (less than a decade ago) I was told, and all papers were also written, passively.