English-written abstracts for Spanish publications: A challenge in the globalization of science

The preeminence of English as the scientific lingua franca, together with the ever-present publish-or-perish dilemma, has brought increasing concern on Spanish scientists striving to achieve international recognition. Spanish journal editors try to make their journals look as professional as possible, most of them peer reviewed and their abstracts are listed in the most important databases. However, the problem of language seems to be the issue around which the dissemination of their publications is centered. In this report we examine the English-written abstracts of the Spanish Journal of Finance and Accounting, their content and form, and whether or not they are persuasive enough to lure the researcher into reading the paper. While the abstract is considered the first point of contact with the researcher, the expected results will show a rather irregular rendering of the information and, in general, a defective composition of the abstracts, in addition to local issues discussed in their articles. These results suggest a poor dissemination and repercussion of the authors’ contribution worldwide.