English Abstracts in Open Access Translation Studies Journals in Spain (2011-12)

Abstract

In this study of 197 abstracts from the ten most prestigious open access Translation Studies journals published in Spain between 2011-12, 73 of 197 abstracts (37%) were found to contain a total of 128 errors (75 grammatical, 42 vocabulary-related and 11 typographical). Three “risk factors” were suspected to correlate with higher error incidence (>40% error rate), namely: 1. when abstracts do not conform to the author's guidelines for language and length; 2. when abstracts appear in monographic issues or dossiers within issues; and 3. when abstracts appear in journals published only electronically. A higher error incidence was found to correspond with those journals that presented all three risks (3/4 (75%). A correspondence between high incidence of error and individual risk factors was also found: 67% of electronic only published journals, 71% of monographic guest-edited journals and 57% of journals with length non-compliance had higher error incidences. Several recommendations for journal editors and abstract authors are provided.