Background: Cochrane Russia manages a Russian translation project with a team of 140+ volunteers from Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Armenia, USA, UK, Germany. We translate and disseminate Cochrane plain-language summaries (PLS), blogshots, podcasts, press releases, Cochrane Comms weekly digests, Cochrane news and videos. By 2017 we reached 1000 PLS translations and in January involved students of the Institute of International Relations (IIR), Kazan Federal University.
Objectives: To assess progress in Cochrane Russia capacity building through impact assessment of translation/dissemination work and quality assurance of Russian translations.
Methods: We analysed our progress in numbers of produced/disseminated items; and used Google survey to re-assess user feedback in March 2017 versus 2016, 2015. The survey contains 10 questions on clarity, quality, needs, impact, and suggestions for improvement.
Results: By 14 March 2017 we reached 1108 PLS translations. Cochrane Russia produced 48 podcasts, 85 blogshots, 60 translations of Cochrane Comms weekly digests, 30 press releases and Cochrane news. Russian blogshots featured in top-5 viewed categories on Cochrane Tumblr account, Quarter 4, 2016. We have 1700+ followers Vkontakte, 860+ twitter, 230+ Facebook, totalling nearly 3000, 85% from Russia. The monthly number of VKontakte page views is over 2000. By March 2017, 221 people responded to the online survey. Russian translations are mostly clear (n=210; 95%), with quality rated excellent (n=58; 26% vs. 24% vs 31%), good (n=129; 58% vs 61% vs 51%), satisfactory (n=25; 11% vs. 11% vs. 14%). 98% respondents noted good compliance of Russian translations with original English texts. The same high proportion of respondents (n=210, 95% vs. 96% vs. 92%) recognise the need for Cochrane evidence for Russian-speaking countries.
Conclusions: Further development will build on cooperation with professional translators, continuous quality improvement, and performance measurement to assure sustainable excellent results in translation/dissemination work.