As a meaningful manifestation of how institutionalized the discipline has become, the new Handbook of Translation Studies is most welcome. It joins the other signs of maturation such as Summer Schools, the development of academic curricula, historical surveys, journals, book series, textbooks, terminologies, bibliographies and encyclopedias.

The HTS aims at disseminating knowledge about translation and interpreting and providing easy access to a large range of topics, traditions, and methods to a relatively broad audience: not only students who often adamantly prefer such user-friendliness, researchers and lecturers in Translation Studies, Translation & Interpreting professionals; but also scholars and experts from other disciplines (among which linguistics, sociology, history, psychology). In addition the HTS addresses any of those with a professional or personal interest in the problems of translation, interpreting, localization, editing, etc., such as communication specialists, journalists, literary critics, editors, public servants, business managers, (intercultural) organization specialists, media specialists, marketing professionals.

Moreover, The HTS offers added value. First of all, it is the first Handbook with this scope in Translation Studies that has both a print edition and an online version. The advantages of an online version are obvious: it is more flexible and accessible, and in addition, the entries can be regularly revised and updated. The Handbook is variously searchable: by article, by author, by subject.

A second benefit is the interconnection with the selection and organization principles of the online Translation Studies Bibliography (TSB). The taxonomy of the TSB has been partly applied to the selection of entries for the HTS. Moreover, many items in the reference lists are hyperlinked to the TSB, where the user can find an abstract of a publication.

All articles (between 500 and 6000 words) are written by specialists in the different subfields and are peer-reviewed.

Last but not least, the usability, accessibility and flexibility of the HTS depend on the commitment of people who agree that Translation Studies does matter. All users are therefore invited to share their feedback. Any questions, remarks and suggestions for improvement can be sent to the editorial team at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..