Abstract: This paper reviews previous studies on Chinese-English translation of scientific paper abstracts.Several features are found.First，a large part of existing studies are conducted by journal editors，and are generally summaries of common language problems and error analyses.Second，in recent years，development of empirical research has given rise to some corpus based studies on Chinese-English translation of scientific paper abstracts.Third，how to use some translation tools to address problems in the translation of scientific paper abstracts is discussed.The translation methods，strategies and principles are also examined.Fourth，successful management experiences of abstract translation by some top Chinese journals are also reported.Based on the above analysis，this paper suggests some possible directions for future research in this field.