36.2248, Diss: English, Portuguese; Translation: Phillippa May Bennett: "Agents in the translation process: the case of the Portuguese Journal of Cardiology from submission to publication"

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-36-2248. Wed Jul 23 2025. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 36.2248, Diss: English, Portuguese; Translation: Phillippa May Bennett: "Agents in the translation process: the case of the Portuguese Journal of Cardiology from submission to publication"

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Date: 23-Jul-2025
From: Phillippa May Bennett [pmbtranslations at gmail.com]
Subject: Agents in the translation process: the case of the Portuguese Journal of Cardiology from submission to publication


Institution: Phd in Translation and Terminology, NOVA University of
Lisbon, Portugal
Degree Date: 2024

Dissertation Title: Agents in the translation process: the case of the
Portuguese Journal of Cardiology from submission to publication

Dissertation URL: https://run.unl.pt/handle/10362/177821?locale=en

Linguistic Field(s): Translation

Subject Language(s): English (eng)
                     Portuguese (por)

Dissertation Director(s): Karen Bennett

Dissertation Abstract:

Translation has played a central role in the publication of the
Portuguese Journal of Cardiology (RPC) since 1999 when the Journal
first began to be published in bilingual format. This thesis tracks
and traces the role of the agents in translation in a text-oriented
ethnographic study of translations published by the RPC between 2017
and 2021. It focuses specifically on the role of peer reviewers and
the principal translator (Translator A). It answers two research
questions: is it possible to quantify and qualify interventions in the
text and if so, how?
It is framed theoretically in the context of actor-network theory
(ANT) and methodologically, it is divided into two parts. Study 1
relates to the textual and paratextual analysis of translator and peer
reviewer interventions in 62 translations published by the RPC. The
results reveal there were overwhelmingly more translation-related
interventions in the text compared to peer review; the majority of
peer review interventions were in Content, whereas Translator A
intervened more at a Sentence Structure level. However, when
Translator A intervened in Content, these changes were more likely to
have a major impact on the text.
In Study 2, six actors at the RPC were interviewed regarding their
experiences of working within the network, how they perceive their
involvement, their interaction and social relations with others, their
own goals and how these contribute to the overriding objective – the
translation and publication of the RPC. The results showed that the
role of Translator A was not fully understood by non-translators in
the network and that in the period in question, Translator A acted as
a (linguistic) gatekeeper for the Journal. As one of the central
figures in the translation and publication network, Translator A
fulfils various roles in addition to translation (as linguistic
editor, proofreader, plagiarism-checker, reference checker and content
accuracy checker), ensuring that all articles translated into English
meet target audience expectations for a high-quality English language
journal. As regards the peer reviewers, it was clear they play a major
role, yet one that is often undervalued and exploited.
It is hoped this thesis will give stakeholders, specifically
non-translators involved in the translation processes at journals, a
greater understanding of how translators intervene in text production.
In addition, it aims to contribute to a body of measurable evidence on
the role and relevance of translators in the production of scientific
knowledge and even empower translators to gain recognition for their
work, especially in the wake of the development of artificial
intelligence and advanced machine translation models.



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