Editorial

In the last decade, academic publishing has been characterised by the following features:

and

JoSTrans, one of the longest established international peer-reviewed journals in Translation Studies, has been one of the first to promote these features and others, now highly valued in the field: content reflecting links between academia and industry; open-access, electronic only issues which include multimedia material; a focus on professional aspects of translation, particularly on those that are at the forefront of developments such as media accessibility, post-editing or machine translation; and perhaps most importantly, an independent spirit and format, as it is not run by an organisation but by the very individuals that it intends to serve: students, scholars and professionals of translation.

In a translation journal, diversity among contributors is taken for granted as authors discuss how specialist content is transferred across the globe and different disciplines. However, JoSTrans has prioritised diversity and inclusivity among authors and readers in ways that are less common. While publications aimed at professionals or postgraduate students aim to include less experienced or established contributors, peer-reviewed journals are often under pressure to select the most polished articles. The cost is that original ideas can be excluded. In a fast-moving area such as translation, the grass roots push the most interesting ideas forward, even though they may lack the experience in expressing them in the most eloquent ways. Recognising this and implementing its consequences has driven the ethos of the journal since the beginning. Many now established writers had their first publication in JoSTrans. The members of the editorial team who supported them through this journey gave more time and energy than would have been expected in a peer-reviewed process.  This ethos of inclusivity is also extended to readers. The decision to be a ‘gold’ publication and make content immediately available was never questioned. Even now, most Humanities and Social Sciences publications opt the ‘green’ model and most ‘gold’ journals belong to large hard science disciplines that can better afford to sustain the costs of production and dissemination. Access has always been considered carefully: in the early years of the 21st century for instance, when the uploading of video was challenging, all interviews were cut in one minute chunks and made available in two speeds to cater for audiences with limited bandwidth. This approach and the overall quality of the content of the journal have been recognised globally, and in 2018, JoSTrans is included in the main databases of peer-reviewed literature such as Clarivate, Scopus and the DOAJ.

This 30th issue anniversary of JoSTrans is celebrated with a double issue to our readers. It comprises 30a, based on the theme of specialised translation with contributions from key authors in the area who have collaborated with JoSTrans over the years and 30b, eight articles which form the regular non-thematic publication issued every July. The non-thematic section reflects recent interests regarding reception and perceptions of translation. How people, be they translators or not, engage with texts and react to them has been at the core of Translation Studies in the last few years. This is mirrored here: the comprehension and perception of texts in translation (Mele; Leszczyńska and Szarkowska; Congost Maestre); their role and accessibility (Braga Riera; Roofthooft); and attitudes towards ethical and training issues (Lambert; Yi-yi Shi).

As we were starting to gather articles around the theme of specialised translation with an anniversary issue in mind, Juan José Martínez Sierra approached us with a project for a thematic volume on the same theme. The similarities between his vision and ours were striking and we asked him to guest-edit the anniversary section of the issue. We liked the idea of an ‘external’ eye’s input into the volume and Martínez Sierra was also keen to include in his list the established figures that helped JoSTrans be established: Frederic Chaume, Jorge Díaz Cintas, Daniel Gile, Anna Matamala, Pilar Orero, Anthony Pym and Margaret Rodgers, who offers a comprehensive and fascinating history of JoSTrans. Unfortunately, Peter Newmark, who chaired the JoSTrans editorial board until 2011, is no longer here to make a contribution but his commitment to the journal was crucial to its development. Martínez Sierra’s broad understanding of the notion of specialised translation as a professional practice that embraces areas from audiovisual translation and transcreation to technical translation also matched our own. The work of younger scholars complements that of the established authors mentioned above: Doherty, Dutka, Kruger, Orrego-Carmona, Pedersen, Perego, Romero Fresco, Rovira-Esteva, Soler-Vilageliu and Szarkowska’s focus on experimental research mirrors the trend in Translation Studies today, particularly in Audiovisual Translation. Cruz García stretches the research domain of translation methods into the area of adaptation in advertising.

Finally, a note on the video interviews that have also contributed to define JoSTrans. No less than 67 interviews bring the history of the last fifteen years in the translation profession to life.  In this issue, established figures of Translation Studies are having dialogues: Christina Schäffner interviews Andrew Chesterman while Frederic Chaume reflects on the evolution of audiovisual translation with Jorge Díaz Cintas. I also interview Brian Mossop, Orrego-Carmona and Juan José Martínez Sierra on editing and translation, the growth of empirical studies in Translation Studies and the fluctuating meanings of specialised translation. To finish, Lindsay Bywood gets my perspective as the editor of JoSTrans. Collaborating with specialists from all over the world has been fun and a privilege. May the journey into the next thirty issues be as unexpected and enriching!

 

Lucile Desblache