Researchers at The University of Queensland have developed an agentic AI translation system that makes academic research accessible in multiple languages. Implemented across major international conferences and scholarly publishing initiatives, the project has translated more than 100 research papers into 15 languages, expanding access to knowledge and enabling more diverse participation in global research conversations.
What's the problem?
English remains the dominant language of academic publishing, creating barriers for many researchers, students and practitioners around the world. As a result, valuable research can fail to reach audiences who could benefit from it, limiting knowledge sharing, collaboration and the global impact of scholarship.
What's UQ's innovation?
The team from UQ Business School, led by PhD candidate James Boyce developed a multi-agent AI translation workflow that orchestrates multiple agents to generate, critique and refine research paper translations. Combined with human oversight, the approach helps preserve discipline-specific terminology and produce higher-quality translations than conventional single-pass translation methods.
Between 2024 and 2026, the system translated 112 research papers into 15 languages. The project demonstrates how AI can be used responsibly to support scholarly communication while maintaining quality assurance, author consent and human oversight throughout the process.
What's the impact?
The project demonstrates how AI can significantly broaden access to research and accelerate knowledge sharing.
Translated papers generated 1,045 additional downloads alongside 1,663 downloads of the original papers, representing an overall 63% increase in cumulative readership, with some translations attracting more readers than their original English counterparts. The findings suggest that language remains a significant barrier to research access and that AI can play an important role in making scholarship available to wider global audiences.
Seventy-eight translated papers were published alongside their English originals through leading international conferences, including the 2025 proceedings of the Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS), Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS) and the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS). This project will be utilised at the 2026 proceedings of ICIS, with a new goal of over 200 papers. The project has helped researchers share their work with communities that may otherwise have been unable to access it.
Did you know?
The project's AI-enabled workflow has translated 112 full research papers into 15 languages, helping researchers extend the reach of their work and engage new audiences around the world.
Led by
UQ research team
| AI Research Strength | Responsible AI |
|---|---|
| Industry Portfolio | Social & Economic |
| Key Partners | The project was delivered in collaboration with the Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS), the Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS), the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) and the Association for Information Systems Taskforce for Inclusive, Impactful Science. |
| Key Publication | Burton-Jones, A., Tatsuya , A., Boyce, J. ., Chau, P. ., Feng, J. (Jane), Guzman, I. R. ., … Yoon, V. . (2025). This Article is Not Just in English: Making Science More Inclusive and Impactful with Artificial Intelligence Translation. Australasian Journal of Information Systems, 29. https://doi.org/10.3127/ajis.v29.5875 |
Published 15 September 2026