Increasing Visibility of Research and Scholarship via Language TranslationLilian Hoffecker, PhD MLS, Health Sciences Library, University of Colorado

Dana Abbey, MLS, NN/LM MidContinental

Objectives:To determine if translation of a slide presentation

increases its visibility and if there are variation in

visibility by language.

Methods:The open access model of scholarly

communication has increased visibility of

research by making publications freely

available. In order to test the possibility that

translation into non-English language may

enhance visibility of research the authors

translated an English language slide

presentation into three languages: Chinese,

Russian, and Japanese. All four versions were

uploaded to openly accessible sites including, a

university digital repository and a web-based

slide hosting service, to track their views and

downloads over several months.

Background:

Once dominated by Latin through the mid-17th

century scientific publication began its shift to

English. Today, more than half of the world's

technical and scientific periodicals are in English,

and English is the medium for 80% of the

information stored in the world's computers. But

only 5% of the world’s populations are native

English speakers which leaves many scientists

around the globe at a disadvantage. How can

native English researchers connect with non-

native English researchers, and vice versa?

Conclusions:• Posting on open access sites in different

languages increases visibility.

• Slide presentations or paper abstracts are short

and easily translated without high costs.

• Make sure the topic and the language are

meaningfully connected.

Recommendations:• Hire certified translation service.

• Post to open access site.

• If possible add metatags in

individual languages.

Translation services examples• Elsevier Language Services, English to

Chinese, 500 words, $337

• Straker Translation, .English to Japanese,

.17 to .25 per word

Why translate?• Establish new collaborations

• Potential to reduce duplication

of research efforts

• Awareness of other research

Acknowledgements:Chinese translation: Yumin Jiang, University

of Colorado, Health Sciences Library

Russian translation: John Hoffecker, Institute

of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of

Colorado

All

lan

gu

ages

Chin

ese

Russ

ian

Jap

anes

eE

ng

lish

For updates to the poster, go to Slideshare:http://www.slideshare.net/LilianTakahashiHoff

e/increasing-visibility-of-research-and-

scholarship-via-language-translation