Aims and scope

JoSTrans aims to create a forum for researchers in specialised translation to disseminate information, exchange ideas and provide a dedicated publication outlet for research in non-literary translation.

This international journal is indexed with the main abstract and citation databases of peer-reviewed literature, including the SCOPUS, Clarivate (JCR/Web of Science - AHCI, SSCI), DOAJ, MLA International Bibliography (listed in the Directory of Periodicals), Translation Studies Bibliography, BITRA and ERIH PLUS. JoSTrans is also a member of the Council of Editors of Translation and Interpreting Studies for Open Science.

The journal offers a mixture of thematic and open issues, covering the following areas:

• General and practical issues in specialised translation and interpreting practice
• Subject field translation issues, i.e. medical, legal, financial, audiovisual, multimedia, technical, localisation, etc
• Theoretical and methodological issues in specialised translation and interpreting
• Translation technologies and AI in society
• Quality assurance processes, including revision and post-editing.

Publication ethics and malpractice statement

The journal’s policies are based on the guidelines published by COPE, the Committee on Publication Ethics.

The journal is published with the assistance of ZHAW.

Copyrights

Authors are also responsible for obtaining permission to use copyrighted material from other sources, where necessary.

By submitting manuscripts for publication, authors acknowledge that their article is not published anywhere else. Authors of JoSTrans submissions retain copyright over their works and have agreed to publish them in open access in The Journal of Specialised Translation under a Creative Commons Attribution license. This license allows re-distribution and re-use of a licensed work on the condition that the original source is appropriately credited. Thus, Authors may use their text elsewhere after publication provided that JoSTrans is acknowledged as the original source of publication.

Plagiarism and data accuracy

The JoSTrans editorial team checks articles against plagiarism using plagiarism detection software. Where an article is found to have copied previous work, plagiarised other work or fails to acknowledge existing material the article is barred from publication. The editorial team also cross-checks data for accuracy and authenticity.

Editors’ responsibilities

The editorial board considers and reviews the journal’s policies, standards and publication mechanisms as well as editorial decisions for each journal issue. Members of the board discuss ethical issues and contentious publication matters, such as cases of plagiarism or potential retraction of articles, for future and published issues. The editorial board comprises the general editor, deputy editors, language editors, a peer review editor, a secretary and editorial assistants. They work in collaboration with the technical team. All editors are committed to treating authors with fairness, courtesy, objectivity, honesty and transparency. They are bound to protect the authors’ confidentiality and commit to declaring any conflict of interest. They also aim to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies as required.

The general editor has the ultimate responsibility for the editorial process and the provision of clear guidelines regarding manuscript submission and authorship criteria. The general editor has final authority regarding editorial decisions, including accepting or rejecting an article.

The peer-review editor ensures that an effective system is in place for sending articles for evaluation and communicating with authors on the evaluation schedule. The peer-review manager protects authors’ confidentiality, the anonymity of reviewers, keeps track of all submissions and peer-review reports, collaborates with editors in order to select appropriate referees, and ensures that reports are received and sent to authors with reasonable speed.

Deputy editors advise the general editor on journal-related decisions, take part in the desk review process, manage special issues and take part in the editing of non-thematic issues. They communicate with authors regarding the correction of errors and clarifications required before publication and, if required, after publication. They collaborate with language editors who style-edit articles.

Peer-review process and peer reviewers’ responsibilities

JoSTrans uses a double-blind peer-review system. Each submission is first screened by the Editorial Board for eligibility at the desk review stage and passed on to the peer-review team, which selects two peer reviewers from among the Advisory Board members or external scholars with expertise in the field. Peer reviewers are asked to evaluate submissions in line with criteria set out in the JoSTrans peer-review form, providing feedback and a recommendation for the Editorial Board according to the scale: Publish (with minor changes), Essential amendments (Revise and publish subject to peer reviewer’s approval) or Reject. In the case of doubts, the Board may request a third peer review. The final publication decision is taken by the Editorial Board, taking into account peer-reviewers’ recommendations.

Reviewers should disclose any conflict of interest with respect to the research which they are evaluating and agree to provide an objective, neutral, constructive and informed assessment in a timely manner, using the evaluation criteria provided by the peer-review manager. Reviewers are committed to confirming the academic integrity of the paper which they are reviewing to the best of their ability. Reviewers should respect the confidentiality of peer reviews and not use information obtained through peer review to their own advantage. Reviewers agree to conform to the COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers
(https://doi.org/10.24318/cope.2019.1.9).

Authors' responsibilities

Authors pledge to submit authentic previously unpublished research and agree to take part in a peer-review process and to revise the articles as required. They agree to comply with high ethical standards of academic research and standard requirements of academic publishing, such as research integrity and transparency, accurate acknowledgement of sources, authorship attribution, approvals of ethical committees if applicable, declaration of funding and competing interests, etc. Should authors discover errors in their work, they should notify the editor for corrections. They agree to comply with the journal’s stylesheet regarding formatting, references, and acknowledgement of financial support if relevant. They are aware that plagiarism, the inclusion of fraudulent data, and previous publication of their article in another book or journal, including in another language, would lead to the retraction of their article.

Guidelines for retracting articles

The general editor will contact the author in case of the potential retraction of an article. An article will be considered for retraction in the interest of academic integrity in the following cases:

• the article content provides substantial false or unreliable information either through fraud or genuine error which cannot be corrected the article was previously published elsewhere
• the article plagiarises previously published information.

Retracted articles will be removed from the journal’s site and a notice of retraction posted on the issue’s table of contents.