Scholarly communication strategies in Latin American´s research-intensive universities

Juan Pablo  Alperin; Gustavo E.  Fischman; John  Willinsky

doi:10.54674/ess.v16i2.659

Juan Pablo Alperin Simon Fraser University: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9344-7439
Gustavo E. Fischman Arizona State University: Tempe, AZ, US https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3853-9856
John Willinsky Stanford University: Stanford, CA, US https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6192-8687

DOI: https://doi.org/10.54674/ess.v16i2.659

Keywords: Latin America, Scholarly communication, Open Access

Abstract

Universities engaged in producing high quality research have been in existence for centuries in Latin America, but only in the last two decades has the research-intensive model become the standard to be achieved by most public universities in the region. The increased emphasis on scholarly publication in the region has coincided with the rise of the Internet and with the emergence and growth of the Open Access (OA) movement. It is in this context, we explore three main issues: 1. How OA has been understood and incorporated into the publishing practices of faculty in research-intensive universities; 2. How OA has been understood and incorporated into the assessment practices of the national systems of Research and Development (R&D); and 3. How can we understand the dynamics of convergence between the growth of research and growth of OA in the region. We find that the inclusion of SciELO and RedALyC in the evaluation systems of the research-intensive university and of R&D national systems has given prominence to OA in the region and that this has, in turn, given credence to the evaluation practices of such OA initiatives. While it is impossible to determine direct causation between these OA initiatives (and associated technologies) on the quantity and quality of Latin American research, we conclude that they have been a crucial mechanism of support for researchers, universities, and for national systems of innovation.

Author Biographies

Juan Pablo Alperin, Simon Fraser University: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Dr. Juan Pablo Alperin is a co-director of the ScholCommLab, as well as an associate professor at the Canadian Institute for Studies in Publishing and an associate director of research of the Public Knowledge Project at Simon Fraser University, Canada. He is a multi-disciplinary scholar, with training in computer science (BMath, University of Waterloo), social science (MA Geography, University of Waterloo), and education (PhD, Stanford University), who believes that research, especially when it is made freely available (as so much of today’s work is), has the potential to make meaningful and direct contributions to society, and that it is our responsibility as the creators of this research to ensure we understand the mechanisms, networks, and mediums through which our work is discussed and used. A few publications are listed below. A full list of publications and presentations can be found at in his full CV, and he can be found on Twitter at @juancommander.

Gustavo E. Fischman, Arizona State University: Tempe, AZ, US

Gustavo E. Fischman is professor of educational policy and comparative education at the Mary Lou Fulton Teacher's College, Arizona State University. Dr. Fischman focuses his work on understanding and improving the processes of knowledge-production and exchange between scholars, educators, activists, practitioners, administrators, media workers, policymakers, and the broader public. He is currently leading two research projects. The first project focuses on issues of sustainability education and the uses (and misuses) of global learning metrics and large-scale assessments in educational reform projects. The second project explores systems reforms to improve assessment practices in higher education and organizational strategies for mobilizing research knowledge. Has authored more than 150 academic publications, as well as numerous commentaries and interviews. He has been a visiting scholar in several graduate programs in Europe and Latin America. Dr. Fischman has received many awards and appointments, including selected as a New Century Fulbright scholar (2010), fellow of the International Academy of Education, (2013) and fellow of the American Educational Research Association (2015)and appointed to the W. T. Fulbright Senior Scholar roster (2017). He is also the chair of the International Relations Committee at AERA and is the ad-honorem coordinator of the program of internationalization of the Pontificia Universidade Católica de Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). In addition to his service on numerous editorial boards, he is the editor of Education Review, consulting editor of Education Policy Analysis Archives, and a co-editor of the 2018 and 2020 Review of Research in Education (AERA). Among his best-known books are Imagining Teachers: Rethinking Teacher Education and Gender, Dumb Ideas Won't Create Smart Kids co-authored with Eric M. Haas, and Made in Latin America: Open Access, Scholarly Journals, and Regional Innovations co-edited with Juan P. Alperin.

John Willinsky, Stanford University: Stanford, CA, US

John Willinsky. Professor Emeritus at Stanford Graduate School of Education. After working for some time on the educational implications of such knowledge systems as literary theory, curriculum theory, lexicography, and European imperialism, I have come to focus my studies on both analyzing and altering scholarly publishing practices to understand whether this body of knowledge might yet become more of a public resource for education and deliberation and whether we can develop software tools to help make that happen.