Track 09 - New publishing and scientific communication ways: Electronic edition, digital educational resources Author: Daniel Linder https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-04vgcO_xI&index=1&list=PLboNOuyyzZ86iI_x9SRTfV1KlSRX9DcEc

1. How Can Errors in English
Abstracts Get into Final Copy? A
Survey of Non-native Journal
Editors and Authors
Daniel Linder
Deptartment of Translation and Interpreting
University of Salamanca

2. Introduction
TEEM 2013: A previous study of 197 English
abstracts accompanying articles in languages
other than English from ten Translation Studies
journals in Spain found that 73 (37%) contained at
least one grammar, vocabulary or typographical
error, 16 abstracts contained three or more
errors of different types (Linder, 2014)

3. Objective
Focusing on these 16 abstracts, this study
attempts to explore possible explanations
for how this could happen by surveying the
agents involved in the process, i.e. the
article authors and journal editors.

4. Hypotheses
Explanations may be found in the writing-
to-publication process and in the
behaviors, experiences and attitudes of
the authors and editors.

5. Methodology: Authors
Authors were contacted by e-mail and asked four
questions:
1.Who wrote or translated the abstract into English?
2.What role did the journal editor play in the process of
writing, translating or editing the abstract?
Authors were provided with one example of a clear
grammar, vocabulary or typographical and asked to
comment on …
3.What the process of composition/translation of the
abstract was like? (describe)
4.What the process of revision /publication of the
abstract was like? (describe)
Questions based on Perales-Escudero and Swales (2011)

6. Methodology: Editors
Editors were sent a survey via Surveymonkey and
asked about specific journal behaviors regarding
abstracts (items 1-6) and about the editors’
experiences and attitudes towards a number of
scholarly publishing issues (items 7-10).

7. Methodology: Editors
Items 1-3: Specific journal procedures for
revision of abstracts in English and in
languages other than English
1. What are the journal’s procedures,
2. Who is responsible, and
3. What is done if an abstract is incorrect or does not
comply with style guidelines.

8. Methodology: Editors
Items 7-10 surveyed editors’ attitudes towards
the English abstracts that accompany articles
written in languages other than English and their
experiences in dealing with English abstracts.

9. Methodology: Editors
7. Do you agree that abstracts in English can
provide international visibility and enhance the
potential impact of the scientific output of academic
and scientific journals?
8. In your experience, how could you explain the
differences in quality among abstracts in English in
Translation Studies journals in Spain?
9. There is variation in the style guidelines among
Translation Studies journals in Spain. What is your
opinion about the wide variation in style
guidelines?
10. Do you think Translation Studies journals in Spain
should have more detailed guidelines?

10. Results: Authors
Six responses to the authors’ questionnaire were
received by May 15, 2014, a response rate (6 out
of 16; 37.5%) similar to that obtained by Perales-
Escudero and Swales (15 out of 35, 43%)

11. Results: Authors 1
Five authors wrote their abstract in the same
language as the article, then
•Three respondents translated this version into English
without revision
•Two translated this version into English with the help
of more knowledgeable non-native speaking
colleagues
One author wrote the abstract directly in English
without revision
None of the authors contacted used (professional)
native-speaker translation and/or revision prior to
submitting their English abstracts.

12. Results: Authors 1
Sample comments describing the process as
taking place in isolation:
•“I wrote it directly in English (…) by myself” (yo sola)
(N. 3)*
•“I wrote [the abstract] in Spanish; no one helped me
[translate it]” (nadie me ayudó)(N. 5)
*All responses received were in Spanish. All translations of these
responses have been translated by Linder.

13. Results: Authors 2-4
Four authors indicate that they either did not
know whether the abstract would be or was
revised or that they assumed that the editor
would do so.
•“I don’t know if anyone at the journal revises the abstract” (N.
3)
•“In principle, [the abstract] was revised by the editor of the
journal and by the coordinator of the specific issue” (N. 1)

14. Discussion: Authors
Some non-native English speaking authors
write or translate their own abstracts in(to)
English and submit unrevised or
inadequately revised versions of them to the
top ten Spanish electronic journals in
Translation Studies. A majority of these
authors assume that the journals will revise
the English abstract. None of these authors
had used professional or native-speaker
translation or revision.

15. Results: Editors
Six responses to the editors’ questionnaire
were received by May 15, 2014, a response
rate of 60%. One response was discarded
as it was far from complete (N. 6).

16. Results: Editors—Who revises?
• In all journals, the responsibility falls mainly
on the editors themselves
• None of the journal editors recorded internal
or external revisers working for the
publisher.
• One journal editor (N. 1) points out that “blind
peer reviewers will often indicate when there
are problems with English abstracts”

17. Results: Editors—Procedures?
• Generally described as a collective work performed
by the editor and the editorial board (3/6)
• Non-English and English revision use the same
process in half of the journals (3/6); in the other half
of the journals (3/6) the procedure is different

18. Results: Editors—What happens?
• In half the cases, non-English and English use the
same process (3/6)
•Half of the journals supply missing abstracts or
correct errors directly (3/6) and less than half return
incorrect English abstracts to authors for correction (2/6)
•Professional translation of all abstracts (1/6)
Unique case: “Up until two years ago, each autor submitted an
English abstract and an internal revisor working for the journal
revised them. Now authors are asked for a summary in Spanish
and these are give to a native speaker for translation into
English. (…) Since the current procedure calls on authors to
submit only an abstract in Spanish, problems of this nature do
not occur” (N. 5)

19. Results: Editors—What happens?
The number of journals willing to supply missing (English)
abstracts and correct errors internally is intuitively high (50%).
These procedures might lead authors to expect that the
journal will provide missing abstracts, correct errors and
provide style revisión.
•“An alternative is offered [to the autor] whenever this is posible and if
major changes are considered necessary, the autor is contacted in
order to approve these changes.” (N. 1)
•“If the autor does not provide an abstract in English, we translate [the
non-English abstract] internally. As far as potential errors are
concerned, (…) these are corrected (in the same way that corrections are
made to the abstract in the language of the article).” (N. 2)
•“Regarding abstract length, we normally respect the autor’s version
[whether or not it compplies with our guidelines].” (N. 3)

20. Results: Editors
Can English abstracts provide more
international visibility and enhance
article impact?
5/5 editors answered yes, although one believed this
was only partly true, “since abstracts in other
languages also are viable internationally” (N. 3)

21. Results: Editors
What is your opinion about the wide
variation in TS journal style guidelines?
Three editors felt there should be common guidelines (N. 3,
4), those of the Fundación Española para la Ciencia y la
Tecnología (FECYT, Spanish Foundation for Science and
Technology) (N. 7).
Three editors favored allowing the differences to remain,
stating (N. 1, 2,5)
•“(…) there is no reason why all of them need to be the same” (N. 1)
•“I believe that the variations are irrelevant in terms of guaranteeing the
quality of the material submitted”(N. 2)
•“I believe they should be broad and leave an ample margin for the
authors” (N. 5).

22. Results: Editors
Should TS journals in Spain should have
more detailed guidelines?
Four answered “no” and two answered “yes”
One of those who answered “yes” commented, “Yes, but
without the level of detail and without the structure
specifications of experimental science abstracts. The
variety of the research articles in [TS] is much greater and
the typical structure of a biomedical abstract would make
little sense in most cases” (N. 1)
One of those who answered “no” added, “[Authors] should
be given more freedom” (N. 5)

23. Results: Editors
How could you explain the differences in quality in
English abstracts in TS journals in Spain?
One editor attributes lapses in quality to varying author
competence and varying degrees of thoroughness in
revision (N. 1)
Two editors attribute this to author competence (N. 2, 5).
Two editors attribute this to no professional and/or native
speaker revision (N. 7) or to insufficiently thorough revision
(N. 3)

24. Discusion: Editors
Some of these journals publish the author’s
submitted versions unrevised or inadequately
revised, assuming that the author’s version has
been scrupulously prepared. Many editors
showed a disposition to allowing authors
ample margins of freedom in composing their
abstracts and a willingness to address any
English abstract problems in-house rather
than appealing to the author to make changes
to incorrect or non-complying abstracts.

25. Conclusion
There is a patch of uncovered territory or
blind spot where erroneous English
abstracts could be submitted and go
undetected or uncorrected before
publication.

26. Conclusion
“It is true that the text should have been revised by a
native English speaker to detect any potential errors and
correct them”(Author N. 1)
“It is taken for granted that all of us involved in Translation
Studies have the necessary competence to write in
English, whether or not English is one of the languages that
we research. In principle, it is thought that the abstracts
we receive are aceptable from a linguistic point of
view.”(Editor N. 4)

27. Conclusion
“I supposed that someone at the journal would revise
it”.(Author N. 2)
“Abstracts are not always subjected to revision by a
native-speaking expert in Translation Studies, which
explains the errors that arise.” (Editor N. 7)

28. A case study: Incorrect published abstract
In most Carmen Martín Gaite’s novels one can
notice strength of colloquial language. It is
precisely this feature what is going to cause
problems when translating her works into French.
This is shown in the study of the first novel that
has been translated, Entre visillos (À travers les
persiennes), which never satisfied the author.
(Amigo Tejedor, 2011: 117)

29. A case study: Proposed correct abstract
In most of Carmen Martín Gaite’s novels one can
notice the strength of her colloquial language. It
is precisely this feature that causes problems
when translating her works into French. This is
demonstrated in a study of her first novel, Entre
visillos, and its French translation, À travers les
persiennes, a version which never satisfied the
author.

30. A case study: Incorrect published abstract
This paper presents the Catalan works translated
into the Icelandic and, after realizing that there is
no work directly translated from the Icelandic into
Catalan, except for twenty poems of Sigurbjörg
Þrastardóttir recently, and after mentioning the
great gap that it represents that the poetic
collections of the Edda, the main contribution
of the Icelandic literature to the heritage of the
humanity, which have not been yet translated
into the Catalan, it comments on the indirect
translations that the author is aware of. (Badia i
Capdevila, 2011: 157)

31. A case study: Proposed correct abstract
This paper presents a compilation of the Catalan
works translated into Icelandic and vice versa.
Except for twenty poems by Sigurbjörg
Þrastardóttir which were recently translated from
Icelandic, there have been no other direct
translations into Catalan. Also mentioned is the
surprising fact that the poetic collections of the
Edda, the main contribution of Icelandic literature
to the heritage of humankind, have not yet been
translated into Catalan. The indirect translations
that the author is aware of are also commented on.

32. Bibliography
Amigo Tejedor, M. 2011. El registro coloquial de Carmen Martín Gaite
en Entre visillos: problemas traductológicos de su versión francesa À
travers les persiennes (I). Estudios de traducción, 1, 117-126.
Badia i Capdevila, I. 2011. De glaç i de sol. Literatura catalana traduïda
a l’islandès i literatura islandesa traduïda al català. Quaderns. Revista
de Traducció, 18, 157-162.
Linder, D. 2014. English Abstracts in Open Access Translation Studies
Journals in Spain (2011-12): Errors in the Writing, Editing and
Publishing Chain. Information Resources Management Journal (IRMJ),
27, 3, 12-27.
Perales-Escudero, M. and Swales, J. M. 2011. Tracing convergence
and divergence in pairs of Spanish and English research article
abstracts: The case of Ibérica. Ibérica: Revista de la Asociación
Europea de Lenguas para Fines Específicos (AELFE), 21, 49-70.

33. How Can Errors in English Abstracts
Get into Final Copy? A Survey of
Non-native Journal Editors and
Authors
dlinder@usal.es