REDCap®: Seven research institutes join forces to translate the software

REDCap® is a tool for collecting and managing the clinical and epidemiological data used in more than 80 research projects at the Institut Pasteur in Paris. The software is developed by Vanderbilt University in the United States and is used by more than 6,000 institutions in 149 countries, with a highly active user community.

The French-speaking group, led by the Institut Pasteur's Data Management Core Facility, is currently composed of around ten research institutions in France and abroad.

In June 2021, the group embarked on a project to update the French translation of the software. The previous translation dated from 2018, and since then 50,000 words have been added to the 120,000 words used in the software. This project was funded by the Institut Pasteur's Department of Technology and led by the Data Management Core Facility.

Why embark on such a project?

REDCap® collects data from patients or other individuals involved in research. Since these people (patients, healthcare professionals, nurses, data entry operators, etc.) are not always familiar with English, it was important to be able to propose an interface entirely in French that can be used by the French-speaking community.
The translation of the file, a tricky and time-consuming task with multiple obstacles to overcome (including semantic choices, the appropriate translation of new terms, harmonization with the previous translation and structural issues with the tool), was carried out by a specialized company. The file was then reinserted into

REDCap® so that it could be reviewed in context. The review involved ten people from seven research institutes over a six-month period:
•    the Paris Public Hospital Network (AP-HP)
•    the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)
•    Nîmes University Hospital
•    the Paris Brain Institute (ICM)
•    the French Research Institute for Development (IRD) in Montpellier
•    the Institut Pasteur in Paris
•    Université Laval, Québec

Checking the entire translation was a painstaking task. The group of ten reviewers were assisted by some additional individuals on a one-off basis. The introduction of a translation validation system in REDCap® by Université Laval, together with various shared files and bimonthly meetings, helped simplify the collaborative work and get the project over the line.

The Data Management Core Facility team insisted on checking the entire interface and the quality of the translation. But if you notice any problems that you would like to report (related to the length or display of a term or a translation error), you can fill out the following form.

Just two weeks after it was made available online, the new translation has already been downloaded a hundred times!

The Data Management Core Facility team hopes you will enjoy discovering the new translation.