The translator as mediator in researcher/referee correspondence

Abstract

Professional translators often mediate in the complex relation between the authors of scientific articles (their clients) and the referees of scientific journals (their clients’ clients). Experience tells us that standing in the middle of this type of relation—crucial to ensuring scientific articles are published—can be difficult. We need to handle issues arising from author-referee communication that are often far from straightforward and require skilled diplomacy, both oral and written, in the authors’ mother tongue and the target language of the translation. Future translators need to be aware of this role as it affects their professional careers, but do clear guidelines exist? The present communication describes mediated transactions in author-referee correspondence, summarizes related research literature, formulates a set of research questions, and presents a study that we are conducting with a view to obtaining qualitative data from a sample of experienced professionals.