How Can Errors in English Abstracts Get into Final Copy? A

Survey of Non-native Journal Editors and Authors

Daniel LinderDeptartment of Translation and Interpreting

University of Salamanca

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)

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.

Hypotheses

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

Methodology: AuthorsAuthors 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)

Methodology: EditorsEditors 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).

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.

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.

Methodology: Editors7. 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?

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%)

Results: Authors 1Five 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 colleaguesOne 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.

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.

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)

Discussion: AuthorsSome 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.

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).

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”

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

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)

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)

Results: EditorsCan 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)

Results: EditorsWhat 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).

Results: EditorsShould 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)

Results: EditorsHow 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)

Discusion: EditorsSome 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.

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

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)

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)

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)

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.

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)

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.

BibliographyAmigo 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.

How Can Errors in English Abstracts Get into Final Copy? A Survey of Non-native Journal Editors and

Authors

dlinder@usal.es