Book Translation Project (2026)
Book Translation Project (2026)
Introduction
In line with King Saud University's mission to build a knowledge society, and as part of its efforts to serve its students, researchers, and faculty members by providing them with new and beneficial resources in their respective fields in Arabic, and to enhance its role in advancing Saudi and wider Arab society and culture, and supporting Arabic scientific and cultural content, KSU Translation Center is pleased to launch its Book Translation Project for 2026.
The project consists of translating books of various types: textbooks, cultural books, and reference books.
Project Objectives
- Encouraging translation to and from Arabic, and contributing to academic content that serves the educational process, society, and Arab culture.
- Supporting Arabic academic, scientific, and cultural content by translating new and beneficial works from the best foreign books in various disciplines into Arabic.
- Building an Arabic knowledge base in various academic disciplines and fields of knowledge.
- Translating works that benefit human civilization and illuminate the face of Arab culture and the Arab scientific community from Arabic into other languages
- Providing the best textbooks in Arabic for students, researchers, and faculty members, particularly in fields and disciplines taught in Arabic
- Encouraging and supporting university faculty members to translate new and beneficial textbooks, cultural, and reference books.
- Enhancing faculty members' translation skills to and from Arabic through quality control, review, and peer-review processes of translated works, and through workshops held for contracted translators.
Project Outcomes
- Translating a number of distinguished books in various disciplines and genres: textbooks, cultural, and reference books, from and into Arabic
- Improving translation skills among faculty members involved in translating books
- Increasing King Saud University's collection of textbooks, cultural, and reference books published under its name
- Enhancing Arabic academic, scientific, and cultural content
- Raising the profile of Arabic culture and the Arab scientific community among its global counterparts
Book Criteria
- The book should be beneficial to the university and the community, and not be strictly specialized
- The selected book can be a textbook for a specific university course or a reference book for a university subject
- In the case of textbooks, a letter from the academic department council must be submitted with the proposal, stating the title of the course to which the book relates, the book's importance, and the need for its translation.
- The textbook or reference book should not be taught in its source language
- The book should be recent, published no more than five years prior. If multiple editions exist, the most recent edition must be translated
- The book must not have been previously translated by any other publishing house and must be translated only from its original language
- For health-related books, only educational and awareness-raising books should be selected.
- The book should be between 200 and 350 pages.
- The book's content must not contradict the Kingdom's established religious, social, and political principles. It must not contain any offense to Islam or the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, nor any material or images that are morally or socially offensive
- For atlases or books containing numerous images, the images should not exceed one-third of the book's content
- For cultural books, the book must be a bestseller
- For scientific, engineering, and computer books, equations, mathematical formulas, or computer programs should not exceed 50% of the book's content
- An original hard copy of the source language book must be provided with the translation request
Translator Criteria
- The principal translator must be a faculty member of King Saud University.
- The principal translator must hold the academic rank of Assistant Professor or higher, or its equivalent in health-related fields
- The translator must be fluent in both the source and target languages. Priority will be given to those who demonstrate proficiency in the source or target language
- Priority will be given to applicants who have not previously translated a book through the Translation Center
Implementation Mechanism and Steps
- After submitting the online application through the Center's website, the applicant must provide the Center with a hard copy of the book
- All submitted applications are reviewed based on the above criteria and other considerations, as determined by the Center's Board of Directors
- After selecting the best proposals based on the book's subject matter, recency, the reputation of its foreign publisher, and other factors, a shortlist of nominated books is compiled for approval by the Center's Board of Directors
- Once the translation proposal receives final approval, the Center contacts the foreign publisher to verify the availability of the copyright for the book's translation
- If the copyright is available, the translator(s) are notified of the approval and are then required to attend an introductory workshop on the quality control procedures of the translation process. Failure to attend the workshop may result in the Center rejecting the translation proposal
- After attending the introductory workshop, the translator(s) sign a translation contract with the Center, agreeing on the delivery timeframe
- The Center then begins supporting the translation process, including quality control and peer review
- If the translated work passes the review process, the book will be sent for approval and then published by King Saud University Press
