Special Issue

Translation and the Periodical: Towards Translational Periodical Studies? 

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Abstract

This introductory article asks whether periodical studies might be understood as standing on the threshold of a translational turn, a question that frames and motivates the contributions gathered in this special issue. While both translation studies and periodical studies have, over the past decade, engaged with questions of transnational mediation, circulation, and multilingual practice, their encounters have largely unfolded in parallel. Drawing on Bachmann‐Medick’s account of the translational turn as a critical reorientation, we argue that a translational approach complements transnational perspectives by foregrounding the concrete mediating operations through which circulation is produced, including selection, adaptation, reframing, visualization, and the institutional and temporal rhythms of serial publication. Mapping how translation studies has approached periodicals as sites of translational production this article highlights work on historical reconstruction, medium‐specific and multimodal analysis, functional and comparative perspectives, and actor‐oriented approaches, revealing periodicals as inherently translational media. The special issue presents four contributions spanning data‐driven translation history, computational and exploratory methods, textual‐visual migration, and pedagogical practice, collectively advancing a translational methodology that moves the two fields beyond proximity toward a shared analytical vocabulary and a more integrated research agenda. 

Keywords: Translation studies, periodical studies, transnational circulation, multilingualism, cultural mediation

How to Cite:

Regniers, G. & Namestnikov, A., (2026) “Translation and the Periodical: Towards Translational Periodical Studies? ”, Journal of European Periodical Studies 11(1), 1-7.