Academic Translation for Researchers and Universities

Research going out

Researchers translate abstracts for international databases, whole papers for a second journal, theses for a joint degree, and grant applications for foreign funders. The translator's job is to keep the argument and the terminology of the field, not to rewrite. Quotations from sources stay in the original with a translation, technical terms follow the field's established English usage (we check against recent literature in the field when unsure), and references are left as cited.

Before translating a published article, check who holds the rights. Most journals keep copyright or an exclusive licence, so a translated republication needs permission and a clear citation of the original. Open-access articles under CC BY can be translated without asking, as long as the original is credited and the translation is marked as a translation.

Sources for research

Historians, social scientists and lawyers often need archival material, interviews or foreign case law translated for their own reading. For that, a faithful working translation is enough; certification is needed only if the translation will be filed or published as evidence. Handwritten archival documents, old scripts and abbreviations need a translator who reads them, and we say so when a hand is beyond us.

Records coming in

Admissions offices, graduate schools and HR departments receive foreign transcripts and diplomas every week. Most rely on a credential evaluation and on the evaluator's translation rule, which usually means a word-for-word translation from the school or a certified translator. When a university hires foreign faculty on an H-1B, the degree evaluation and its translations go into the petition. See credential evaluations for each evaluator's rule.

For university offices

International offices that send students to us regularly can ask for a single point of contact and a consistent format across students, which makes files easier to review.

Abstracts, keywords and names

Many journals and databases require an English abstract and keywords even for papers in another language. The abstract is translated to the journal's word limit, and keywords are chosen from the field's established English terms rather than translated literally, so the paper can be found. Author names follow the form the author uses in English publications (and ORCID), and institutions are given in their official English names where they have one.