Translation and the early scientific press

While the first discipline-specific scientific periodicals of the late 18th century are marked by the integration of full-text translations, these translations nearly disappeared from scientific periodicals towards the end of the 19th century. This development can be seen in the light of tensions already present in the early practice of full-text translations, such as the preference for ‘original’ material expressed by the readership of the journals, the time lag produced by translations, the changing role of national public spheres, as well as tensions related to the medium of the periodical press. However, the near disappearance of full-text translations could also be seen as a transformation of translatorial activity within the scientific community. With the evolution of the scientific paper as having to state the current state of research for a given topic on an ideally transnational level, the translatorial activity is transferred to every author of a scientific paper – an evolution that goes hand in hand with the idea of scientific papers as addressing a ‘universal’ audience, despite their being written in a particular natural language.