The Internet in Latin America

The need and viability of a mediation index in Latin American scientific production and publication

“…Their production is restricted to local or institutional impact; Vessuri (1995) calls this “parochialism” and it represents a non‐symmetrical schema, where technologic, work and funding strategies mainly respond to politically‐defined criteria.Production and publication almost exclusively depend on public funds.Scientists and practitioners in different disciplines do not take part in diffusing their own researches, or in verifying their impact in broader communication circuits6.The use of online resources is not a common practice yet, when it comes to discussing, confronting and searching for current perspectives in diverse disciplines.Online resources are not yet recognized as the ideal platform to inform on research results (in particular repositories and other open access scientific databases).In the particular case of social sciences in Latin America, there is an additional obstacle: their forms of production are based on a deep‐seated tradition of writing centered on books (Pujol, 1995). Technological barriers and access to infrastructure in developing countries have been two of the main setbacks to reach a solid strategy of science and technology (Molloy, 2011; and Aguado‐López et al , 2008). Latin American countries have struggled with lack of investment to generate appropriate technologic platforms that enable spreading and processing information.…”

“…Even if there are some noticeable endeavors to create a regional platform for scientific production in Latin America – most of them promoted by governmental agencies of science and technology, these tend to take as a pattern the information generated by Thomson‐Reuters and Scopus. According to Molloy (2005) regional databases in Latin America, especially Open Access ones, are a growing platform for the global projection of the scientific production of the region, since individual production (articles, not journals) acquires a visibility that transcends their “local packaging” and they are referred to or cited around the world. Molloy's work offers a general but detailed listing of reference centers, databases and indexes currently available in Latin America, suppliers of scientific references, abstracts and full texts from specialized journals.…”

“…Technological barriers and access to infrastructure in developing countries have been two of the main setbacks to reach a solid strategy of science and technology (Molloy, 2011;and Aguado-López et al, 2008). Latin American countries have struggled with lack of investment to generate appropriate technologic platforms that enable spreading and processing information.…”

“…It is important to note that a region such as Latin America, is not used to producing in accordance with normalized processes, standardized conditions and above all, using particular technologic platforms. Heeding Molloy's (2011) proposals so that Latin American scholars increase their awareness of online resources, it is clear that the options available to publish are yet to be The need of a mediation index discovered by most of the local scientists. Repositories, e-journals, Open Access resources, and electronic managers of the editorial process (i.e.…”

“…According to Molloy (2005) regional databases in Latin America, especially Open Access ones, are a growing platform for the global projection of the scientific production of the region, since individual production (articles, not journals) acquires a visibility that transcends their "local packaging" and they are referred to or cited around the world. Molloy's work offers a general but detailed listing of reference centers, databases and indexes currently available in Latin America, suppliers of scientific references, abstracts and full texts from specialized journals.…”