About MikaEL

MikaEL is a journal of Translation and Interpreting Studies publishing articles based on presentations, posters, workshops or panels held at the annual KäTu Symposium on Translation and Interpreting Studies. MikaEL aims to encompass a wide variety of phenomena related to translation and interpreting and to publish articles reporting on recent research developments. In addition to refereed articles, MikaEL publishes non-refereed articles. The publication criteria are available here.

MikaEL is an open access journal that is published online once a year. The first volume of MikaEL was published in 2007. The peer-reviewing process was incorporated in 2016 (Volume 9). In 2018, MikaEL was granted the official status (Level 1) of an academic publication by the Finnish Publication Forum, and in 2019 the journal gained the corresponding status (Level 1) in The Norwegian Register for Scientific Journals, Series and Publishers. MikaEL is also a foundational member of the Council of Editors of Translation and Interpreting Studies for Open Science.

MikaEL is published by The Finnish Association of Translators and Interpreters (SKTL). The publisher is responsible for maintaining the journal website; the scientific quality is ensured by the editorial board and the editors. 

Multilingual and international 

The KäTu Symposia on Translation and Interpreting Studies and MikaEL came into being because there was a demand in Finland for a conference and a conference publication centred on translation and interpreting research. Organised for almost two decades, the KäTu Symposia remain the only annual conference in Finland that focuses on translation and interpreting research. Similarly, MikaEL is the only annually published journal of Translation Studies in Finland. 

Named in honour of Mikael Agricola (c. 1510–1557) MikaEL is a tribute to this famous Bible translator, humanist and father of the written Finnish language. Articles are most frequently published in Finnish, English and Swedish. Manuscripts can also be submitted for publication in German and French. As a multilingual online journal, MikaEL is easily accessible to researchers of translation and interpreting around the world.  

Recent research of high quality

MikaEL aims to publish recent, high-quality research on translation and interpreting. The publication process is swift, taking only a year: after each KäTu Symposium (in April), manuscripts are to be submitted by the end of August. The manuscripts are peer-reviewed by the end of December and, if accepted, revised and edited during the early months of the next year so that the next volume of MikaEL is published before the next KäTu Symposium. 

Both KäTu abstracts and MikaEL manuscripts are evaluated according to established procedures. The reviewing process of KäTu abstracts and their evaluation criteria are described on the Symposium's website. MikaEL has established guidelines for contributors and guidelines for peer reviewers, including a peer reviewer’s evaluation and report form.

The decision on whether a manuscript can be published is made by the MikaEL editors on the basis of the reviewers’ evaluations and the editors’ assessment of the revised manuscript. Even a revised manuscript can be rejected if it fails to meet the criteria for a scholarly article. A rejected manuscript cannot be re-submitted for publication in the next volume of MikaEL.