Sustainable quality and usability in biomedical translation: issues and approaches to problem solving

Moderator: Mary Ellen Kerans, Mediterranean Editors and Translators, Spain

Over the past 12 years or so, biomedical journals and The Cochrane Collaboration have accumulated a great deal of experience with large-scale translation – going well beyond the basics of titles and abstracts for indexes. Behind-the-scenes discussions of how to manage such translation have raised questions about process, quality, sustainability, costs and whether editorial goals are being met. A certain degree of public discussion has also taken place. This parallel session will showcase information from some of these discussions for the benefit of editors, translators and managers of large and small projects. Speakers will review motivations behind into-English translation (mainly, a strategy to gain international visibility while retaining original research reports for national journals read by clinicians) and translation into national languages (mainly, to gain the attention of local-language readers – such as clinicians, policy makers, patients or students). New developments in the practical, sustainable management of large-scale, long-term translation projects will be described. We plan to leave time for panelists to interact and for participants to join the discussion, so interested EASE members should bring their questions and concerns.

Why quality can be difficult to define, achieve and sustain: what an editor who recruits translators needs to know and answers to FAQs about multilingual publishing

Mary Ellen Kerans, Freelance editor and translator, Barcelona, Spain

Developments in full-text journal translation in Brazil, since reported in 2008 (METM08, Split)

Claudia Buchweitz1 and Denise Arend2
1Scientific Linguagem, Brazil, and freelance editor, Revista Panamericana de Salud Publica/Pan American Journal of Public Health;
2Scientific Linguagem, Brazil, and Production Editor, Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatria

Sustainable large-scale translation of Cochrane Reviews for local language users: finding an approach to support productivity and quality control

Juliane Reid and Harriet McLehose, The Cochrane Collaboration, UK

Presenting translated plain language summaries of Cochrane Systematic Reviews to the public: adapting format and presentation and observations about uptake

Livia Puljak and Irena Zakarija-Grkovic, The Cochrane Collaboration, Croatian Branch

The Croatian Branch of The Cochrane Collaboration started translating plain language summaries of Cochrane Systematic Reviews from English into Croatian in 2012 after receiving its first grant from the Croatian Ministry of Science, Education and Sport for the ‘popularization of science’. Initially, the plain language summaries were posted only on the Cochrane Summaries web site but to reach a wider audience, we opened a Facebook page in March 2013. We saw some differences in patterns of usage of the plain language summaries on the Cochrane Summaries site and the Facebook page. For example, the most popular topics on the Cochrane Summaries page are related to acne, stroke, cancer and diabetes, while topics related to pregnancy and childbirth generate the most page views on our Facebook page. We will focus on our experience with plain language summaries and also mention differences between these and two other types of translation we are doing: 1) the longer translations of Cochrane Systematic Reviews for two Croatian professional medical journals and 2) the PEARLS (Practical Evidence About Real Life Situations). PEARLS are succinct summaries of Cochrane Systematic Reviews and provide guidance on whether a treatment is effective or ineffective; they are aimed at primary care practitioners. The translated PEARLS are published monthly in a journal that is distributed to all licensed doctors in Croatia.

Updated EASE Guidelines: points of particular interest to translators in the 2014 edition

Sylwia Ufnalska, Freelance science translator and editor, Poznań, Poland

On MET’s guidelines for choosing an English language consultant

Mary Ellen Kerans, Continuing professional development