Translating Medical Papers From Turkish to English

This paper focusses on the translation of medical papers in international journals since there is a huge demand for the global exchange of knowledge in the field of medicine and health sciences. This brings forth the issue of translation in academic journals, especially in distant cultures, where it is difficult to find natural speakers and professional translators to edit and optimize the last version of the papers. Although the direction of translation is normally considered from Language 2 to Language 1, it has changed its course from language 1 to Language 2 in face of changing conditions in scientific arena even if the knowledge is best produced in one’s mother tongue. Accordingly, this paper first discusses the concept of translation both theoretically and in practice to explain the barriers awaiting the Turkish authors and professional translators who are not specialist in the field of medical sciences through the examples selected from the medical academic journals. Second, it questions both linguistic and translation procedures in consideration for the textual features of the medical papers within the framework of a scrolling-down translation model to exemplify what stages translation should undergo in reaching the optimal level. Finally, this paper aims to position the translation activity as an indispensable responsibility of international journals of medical sciences and institutionalize it as a task based on the division of labor