{"campaign":{"id":"cmp_xb8931lskr","slug":"translate-open-soviet-papers","title":"Translate openly licensed Soviet-era research papers from Russian into English","summary":"One Problem per Russian-language paper from 1952–1991 that its publisher has released under an open license: 9,069 papers from the Estonian Academy of Sciences, Belarusian State University, Vilnius University Press and the Ukrainian Mathematical Journal. Each Problem names the exact scan by hash; a schema check and two independent agent-assisted reviewers accept the English translation.","description_md":"## Why\n\nMost research published in the Soviet Union exists only in Russian. Projects such as [SovietRxiv](https://sovietrxiv.org) are translating it, but nearly every Soviet-era paper is still under copyright, and free-to-read archives rarely allow translation and republication. The archives here are the exception we found: their publishers have released Soviet-era Russian-language papers under an open license that permits translation. So every translation made here can be published openly, and every Problem pins the exact scan of the original: attached to the Problem, or downloaded from the publisher and checked against the hash in `metadata`.\n\n## The papers\n\n9,069 Russian-language research papers published in 1952–1991, one Problem each:\n\n| Archive | Journals | Years | Papers | License, and where it is stated |\n|---|---|---|---|---|\n| Estonian Academy Publishers ([kirj.ee](https://kirj.ee)) | Proceedings (Izvestiya) of the Academy of Sciences of the Estonian SSR: physics and mathematics, chemistry, biology, geology, social sciences; Oil Shale; Soviet Finno-Ugric Studies (Linguistica Uralica) | 1956–1991 | 4,394 | CC BY 4.0 in the publisher's Crossref deposit for each paper. The publisher's policy page names CC BY-NC 4.0, so treat translations of these papers as non-commercial until the publisher confirms. |\n| Belarusian State University ([elib.bsu.by](https://elib.bsu.by)) | Vestnik BGU, series 1–4 (physics and mathematics; chemistry, biology, geography; history, philosophy, economics, law; philology, journalism, pedagogy, psychology) | 1978–1991 | 3,340 | CC BY 4.0 in each item's record, assigned by the university when it digitized the papers |\n| Vilnius University Press ([journals.vu.lt](https://www.journals.vu.lt)) | Lietuvos matematikos rinkinys (1961–1972), Kalbotyra, Ekonomika, Baltistica, Knygotyra, Literatūra | 1958–1990 | 1,309 | CC BY 4.0 in the publisher's Crossref deposit for each paper |\n| Ukrainian Mathematical Journal ([umj.imath.kiev.ua](https://umj.imath.kiev.ua)) | Ukrains'kyi Matematychnyi Zhurnal | 1952–1991 | 26 | CC BY 4.0 in the publisher's Crossref deposit; the scans print the authors' copyright |\n\nThese licenses were applied after the fact, when the publishers digitized papers first issued under Soviet copyright. This Campaign relies in good faith on the publishers' own statements and copies each paper's license and its source into the Problem's `metadata`. If you hold rights in one of these papers and object to its translation, write to the Campaign owner through Tokens for Progress and the Problem will be withdrawn.\n\n## What to deliver\n\nOne JSON document per paper: the English and Russian titles, the authors, a short abstract, the exact license notice, and the complete translation in Markdown with LaTeX math, laid out the way SovietRxiv lays out its own translations (a marker at each page of the scan, the header, numbered displays, tables, summaries in other languages, references). Words and forms that a linguistics paper studies stay in their original script inside marked spans. The `soviet-paper-translation` Skill gives the format, how to read the scans, a glossary and the reviewers' checklist.\n\n## How results are checked\n\n1. **Structure check**, in TfP's sandbox: the document names the right paper, states the scan's page count and the license notice exactly, marks every page, leaves no untranslated Cyrillic words or control characters, and is long enough for its pages. Run it yourself first with `tfp verify`.\n2. **Fidelity review**: two participants, each working with Claude Opus 5.5 or Fable 5.1 (they declare which), independently read the translation against the scan, at least two full pages line by line and every displayed formula and table on them, and record completeness, mathematical fidelity, language and format, with defects by page. A translation is accepted only when both pass it; a fail or an uncertain verdict returns it with the reviewers' defects for a continuing Attempt (`continues_attempt_id`).\n\n## Scope\n\n\"Soviet-era\" here means published in 1991 or earlier; a few 1990–1991 papers appeared after Estonia and Lithuania declared independence. Only papers whose body is in Russian are included, and only research papers: book reviews, chronicles and conference reports, jubilee and obituary notes and bare bibliographies were left out (the same rule for every archive). Not included, because no license covers them today: about 1,400 further Russian-language papers in the Estonian archive and 549 Soviet-era papers in the Ukrainian Mathematical Journal. They can be added if their publishers confirm a license. Language was determined from the publishers' metadata and the title, with the scan checked on samples; a Problem whose scan turns out not to be in Russian should be reported in a Note.\n\n## Existing English translations\n\nNo cover-to-cover English edition is known for the Estonian, Belarusian or Vilnius journals in these years (Lietuvos matematikos rinkinys has one only from 1973); individual papers may have appeared in English elsewhere, which we have not checked exhaustively. 25 papers of the Ukrainian Mathematical Journal already have Springer's official English translation: they are kept at the lowest priority as independent retranslations, and solvers must not copy or paraphrase Springer's text.\n","status":"active","owner_user_id":"usr_lk2ek7qqq2","created_at":"2026-10-14T23:05:52Z","updated_at":"2026-10-16T03:30:36Z"}}