Altmetrics的译名分歧:困扰、影响及其辨析

Divergence in Chinese Translation of the Term Altmetrics: Confusion, Influence and Discrimination

目前Altmetrics研究面临诸多难题亟待解决,而国内Altmetrics译名分歧,更是给非相关研究人员带来理解上的困难,妨碍社会各界的利用;造成检索结果不全,妨碍科学共同体的深入研究;造成人为的学术交流障碍,分散了有限的研究力量,这极大地阻碍了该领域在我国的深入发展和应用。本研究从英文原词、词典释义、提出者本意、循例借鉴、定义阐释、背景溯源、发展前景和实践考虑八个角度,对Altmetrics的译名做了全面而深入的辨析,发现目前英文原词的检全率和使用学者数居首位,综合各方面因素考虑,在我国大力推进汉化科技术语的政策背景下,"替代计量学"是最合适的中文译名,应得到推广和统一使用,以促进该领域健康可持续发展。图3。表4。参考文献17。

Given the background that Altmetrics is facing many grand challenges,the divergence of Chinese translation for the English term in China has brought negative impact of many aspects that hinders Chinese scholars from collectively studying the core questions of Altmetrics.Three negative influences brought by the divergence of Chinese translations have been pointed out.The Chinese translation is analyzed from eight perspectives,i.e.the original English term,the dictionary explanation,the proposers original consideration,reference to previous practice,definition interpretation,trace to the background,development prospect and practical consideration.It is aimed to unify the usage of Chinese translation and the basic understanding of the term,in order to advance the healthy development of Altmetrics field in China.The six major results are as follows.1)As regards the usage of different Chinese translations of the term Altmetrics,the original English term has the highest frequency of usage(recall ratio is 92%).It is followed by替代计量学(recall ratio is 34%).It is then followed by补充计量学(recall ratio is 13%).选择性计量学is used the least.2)The translation divergence has brought harmful impact and is urgent to be unified.The translation divergence not only brings confusion for non-professional researchers(including audience in the society and new comers to the field),but also leads to the low hit rate in literature retrieval and scattered research power for the topic,and therefore severely hinders the further development and application of Altmetrics in China.3)From the perspective of original English term,dictionary explanation and proposer’s original consideration,although the English term Altmetrics is imperfect,it has played an important role.From the perspective of scientific translation,Alternative has no meaning of complementary but has the meaning that“replace in certain circumstances”.The proposer’s original intention is to develop new indicators,novel solutions and revolutionized scientific communication system,while Alternative is not excluding coexistence and cooperation.4)From the historical cases,Alternative has long been used in terms in different disciplines and translated as“替代”.Alternative in fact refers to the new ways that provide alternative solutions compared with the traditional ways of which the aim is to develop the corresponding fields.5)From the perspective of definition,background and development prospect,Altmetrics is coexisting with,rather than depending on or complementing,traditional metrics in a harmonious way.Altmetrics has formed its own definition,research object and research paradigm.It is aimed to advance the scientific communication of diversified scientific product and encourage the innovation and development of novel scientific communication platform.6)From the perspective of practical application,although替代计量学may seem to be causing misunderstanding,the experiences from home and abroad show that the potential misunderstanding is not that severe and can be soon eliminated.To sum up,the most proper Chinese translation for Altmetrics is替代计量学.Despite that the English term is used by most scholars when the Chinese translation is not determined,it is against the current scientific policy that Chinese scientific terms shall be used in Chinese literature.Therefore,in order to advance the healthy and continuous development of Altmetrics in China,it is suggested that替代计量学be propagated and used.In the future,Altmetrics will be understood directly from its definition instead of the word itself.