Newsletter: What Most Scholars Don’t Consider When Translating or Editing Their Work

What makes translating and editing of academic research so hard?

One of the biggest challenges many non-native English-speaking researchers face when trying to publish - in English - is finding an editor or translator who understands the nuance and complexity of the research they are working on and can convey the ideas in a clear and coherent manner. An experienced professional knows that translation is more than just translating words: it’s about bridging the world and language of the researcher with that of the academic journal and its reviewers. 

Avi Staiman, CEO of Academic Language Experts, recently spoke on the New Book’s Network (NBN) Science Communication podcast about the complexity of creating a quality translation: “It’s critical for the writing to be top-notch so that you are guaranteeing that the reviewer is judging the quality of your research and not the level of your English expression."

Take a listen to the full NBN podcast to learn more about the unique role translators and editors play in the publication process.

Publisher Spotlight: Andri Johnston

Andri Johnston is the Digital & Open Access Projects Editor for Books at Cambridge University Press & Assessment (CUP&A). She project manages new digital book projects on the Cambridge Core platform and is working on CUP&A’s Open Access (OA) books strategy. She leads the cross-departmental 'Flip it Open' OA Books Pilot for the Press in which they are experimenting with an innovative new OA book business model to “flip” monographs to OA.

Andri is also passionate about digital sustainability and is leading an industry-first project to calculate the digital carbon footprint of the Press’s publishing workflow and websites using the DIMPACT tool.