Call for Papers. Special Issue: Ibero-American Scientometrics

Posted on 2024-10-09

Submission dates: 15/10/2024        30/05/2025

Guest Editors:

  • Zaida Chinchilla (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas CSIC). España.
  • Ricardo Arencibia (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México). México.
  • Rogério Mugnaini (Universidade de São Paulo) Brasil.

Robert Broadus notes that Bibliometrics originated when the librarians of Alexandria began counting their papyrus volumes (1987), setting a precedent for the quantitative analysis of the production and organization of knowledge. The development of scientometrics in Ibero-America has followed a unique path, influenced both by global trends and the region’s particular characteristics. Although the concepts and tools for quantitative analysis of science began to develop in the United States and Europe in the mid-20th century, it was in recent decades that these fields began to consolidate in Hispanic America (Hispania being the territory that would now correspond to Spain and Portugal).

The first bibliometric studies in the region can be traced back to the 1970s and 1980s when universities and research centers began to show interest in measuring and evaluating local scientific production. In Spain, as with López Piñero, bibliometrics was introduced through another health sciences research institute, the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) in Brazil. Later, in 1975, the Brazilian Institute of Information in Science and Technology (IBICT) was created, a pioneering organization in the development of scientific evaluation tools. In Mexico, similar studies began to emerge in the 1980s at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), focused on measuring national scientific output, largely led by the University Center for Library Research (now the Institute of Library and Information Research). Similarly, in Argentina, the University of Buenos Aires began developing quantitative studies on scientific production within the framework of the Library Research Center (CIB, founded in 1967), now the Institute of Library Research (INIBI), although it should be noted that, in both Mexico and Argentina, quantitative studies were a secondary area of study.

This Ibero-American interest in quantitative techniques applied to scientific documents was driven primarily by increasing regional production and the need to integrate into global research dynamics, as well as a growing concern for making the region’s scientific output visible, which had previously been marginalized in major international circuits.

A key factor in the development of bibliometrics in Latin American countries has been the growth and consolidation of scientific information databases and networks, such as Latindex, founded in Mexico in 1995; SciELO (Scientific Electronic Library Online), created in Brazil in 1997; and the more recent Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain, and Portugal (Redalyc), established in 2002. These platforms have not only facilitated the dissemination of local research but have also enabled researchers to conduct analyses of scientific production, citation, and collaboration, generating critical data for scientometric studies.

Meanwhile, the inclusion of Ibero-American scientific literature in international databases has made it possible to identify the region’s most visible works and place them within the global production context. Notably, the creation of Scopus (Elsevier) in 2004 made a significant effort to include regions often overlooked in international scientific production. Similarly, Web of Science changed its indexing policies to offer a more inclusive database, resulting in an increase in journals from underrepresented regions, visible from 2008, and significantly expanding for the region's countries with the inclusion of the SciELO Citation Index and Emerging Source Citation Index databases.

This was further reinforced by the growing importance of academic evaluation systems and international rankings, which promoted the adoption of bibliometric tools to assess research in universities and research centers across the region. Scimago’s Country and Institutional Rankings, fed by data from Scopus, have allowed the scientific output of countries in the region to be contextualized and generated the most comprehensive ranking of Ibero-American universities. These tools have become essential for understanding and improving the visibility of science from Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking countries on the global stage, while also highlighting the need for experts in this area.

Another significant initiative in the region was the creation of the Lattes Platform by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) in Brazil in 1999. It is a database of researcher resumes, initially conceived in the 1980s, which received its Spanish version at the turn of the millennium and was replicated in other Latin American countries through the ScienTI network with support from BIREME/PAHO/WHO. This platform has become an important source for scientometric studies, enabling the exploration of various aspects of scientific careers and activity for over two decades.

However, the implementation of bibliometrics and scientometrics in Ibero-America has faced challenges. Inequality in resource access, dependence on visibility indicators designed in contexts foreign to the region, and the need to adapt methodologies to local particularities have been recurring topics in discussions about the use of these tools.

Despite these challenges, scientometrics has grown significantly in the region's countries, though unevenly, driven by a growing number of experts, specialized study programs, regional and national collaboration networks, and an increasing awareness of the importance of native scientific production. This has led to an explosion of bibliometric scientific articles by Ibero-Americans or on Ibero-America. This auxiliary science discipline continues to evolve, allowing a better understanding of the scientific ecosystem of the region and contributing to its positioning on the international stage.

Research on Scientometrics in Ibero-America can be approached from various dimensions/perspectives:

  • Development of scientometrics in Ibero-America.
    • History of research in the region.
    • Significant studies in the field.
    • Research networks and groups.
  • Evaluation of Ibero-American scientific production.
    • Country studies.
    • Field-specific studies.
    • Studies by universities.
    • Study of scientific communities.
    • National and international contextualization.
    • Regional comparative studies.
  • Scientometrics and science policies.
    • Scientometrics and scientific resources.
    • Development policies of countries and academic careers.
    • Development of the region measured in scientific production.
  • Scientific collaboration in Ibero-America.
    • Inter-institutional and international collaboration.
    • Mapping scientific networks.
  • Equidistance in scientific production.
    • Inequality in scientific access.
    • Economic, social, and geographic factors.
    • Linguistic and ideological barriers.
  • New methodologies and approaches in scientometrics.
    • New databases.
    • Specialized software.
    • New techniques.
  • Challenges and criticisms of scientometric studies.
    • Limits of the quantitative approach.
    • Evaluation culture.
  • Open science and open access in Ibero-America.
    • Science platforms.
    • Open Science policies.
    • Studies on access and knowledge dissemination.
  • Scientometrics and higher education.
    • The university as a training center.
    • Training programs.
    • Scientometrics in curricula.

For these reasons, the Revista Panamericana de Comunicación is committed to the region by promoting bibliometric studies that, in turn, allow reflection on the state of the field in the region, scientific production, and its evaluation.

The Revista Panamericana de Comunicación is a scientific publication of the School of Communication at Universidad Panamericana (Mexico).

It is an international, open-access, indexed, double-blind peer-reviewed journal with optimized evaluation and publication processes, achieving an average article approval time of around four weeks. Since 2019, it has maintained a bilingual website, accepting papers in both English and Spanish. This journal follows the diamond open-access model, charging no publication fees or any additional costs. It stores copies of all its articles in the institutional repository SCRIPTA, managed by the Universidad Panamericana Library: https://revistas.up.edu.mx/rpc/index

The current trajectory of the Revista Panamericana de Comunicación allows it to be considered a prestigious periodical for the quality and originality of many of its contributions, and it is commonly referenced in bibliographic repertoires within its scientific field.

It publishes original and unpublished research and studies on scientific communication in current areas of discussion from a broad perspective. It specializes in monographic topics and also accepts general communication articles in its Miscellany section.

Submission and Publication

Proposals may be submitted from the announcement of this special issue until May 31, 2025. After this date, articles on this topic that are accepted will be published in the Miscellany section on the corresponding dates.

Articles will be published as soon as they are thoroughly reviewed and fully accepted, in an agile process that aims to minimize timeframes. Thus, if we receive an article on this topic in March, it may be published soon, perhaps by mid-April if all parties have met the deadlines. Our commitment to authors is that their work will be evaluated exhaustively and objectively.

Although the special issue corresponds to the first half of the year, articles will be published online as soon as the final version is accepted.