Translation and interpreting research in Saudi Arabia: a bibliometric analysis (1990–2019)

Abstract

The first academic translation centre in Saudi Arabia was established in 1990 by King Saud University; since then, translation has been developing as a discipline in its own right. Despite the considerable attention given to bibliometric study of translation and interpreting (T&I) research in Translation Studies, the available literature to date has not explored the development of T&I journal articles in Saudi Arabia. This study aims to lay the groundwork for examining 30 years of Saudi T&I research activities by analysing the productivity of published journal articles between 1990 and 2019, prior to the establishment of The Literature, Publishing and Translation Commission (LPT) as a regulating body. The paper divides the examined period into three phases: early years (1990-1999), advances in academia (2000-2009) and advances in the industry (2010-2019). Drawing on bibliometric parameters of productivity, the dataset includes 180 journal articles collected primarily from King Fahad National Library and Scopus as well as three Arabic secondary sources. The findings suggest a significant increase of published articles in the third decade (2010-2019), a dominance of pedagogy-related studies during the three phases and shared patterns with contextual factors in Saudi Arabia; including the expansion of translation departments at universities and international scholarships.