This paper investigates the use of reformulation markers as a common metadiscourse device in L1 English and Spanish and in L2 English research articles of a particular discipline, namely Business Management. These markers are considered procedural items, i.e. they encode information on how to process lexical meaning. The general frequency of use of the markers, the types of markers used, the functions most commonly performed and their (non-)parenthetical uses are compared in order to explore the degree of transference in their use by the L1 Spanish academics writing L2 English articles. The results are compared to similar studies on reformulation markers in general English and Spanish and also to studies in other disciplines. The results lead us to conclude that some general rhetorical L1 features are more likely to be adapted in the L2 English texts written by L1 Spanish academics than other more specific grammatical features.