Category: Analysis

Open access articles are here to stay: in less than 10 years nearly 50% of articles worldwide can be accessed this way

Publication sponsored by the European Commission, which highlights the role of SciELO in Brazil and the southern hemisphere, estimates that 50% of scholarly articles in the world are available in open access. Researchers like Stevan Harnad calculate this rate by 32%. Methodological differences explain the discrepancy, but the results achieved in a decade show no reversal on this trend. Read More →

Indicators of academic productivity in University rankings: criteria and methodologies

The collective academic output of professors, researchers and students affiliated to universities, measured by the number of articles that are published in indexed journals and/or by citations they receive, is one of major indicators used in the elaboration of university rankings. However, each ranking evaluates academic output differently. Read More →

Altmetrics, Alternative metrics and Alternative measurements: new perspectives on the visibility and impact of scientific research

Altmetrics is a new field which measures the interactions that occur on the Web on the part of users about research results. Sibele Fausto follows up on the post of Atila Iamarino and comments on the repositioning of the invisible colleges in social networks which has resulted in an intensified exchange of information and debate of ideas, whose metrics point to the interest stimulated by scientific works. Read More →

You do the sharing, I “like” it and we create the metrics

The approach instinctively adopted by users of social networks to share articles leaves trails which are tracked almost immediately by metrics which give some indication of their future value as an information source. This is in complete contrast to citation based metrics which can take months or even years to be calculated. Atila Iamarino speaks to us about “The Wisdom of Crowds” as it takes place in real time. Read More →

Conference Agenda: SciELO 15 Years Conference

The SciELO 15 Years Conference will deal with the dimensions and aspects of contemporary scholarly communication that are molding the form and ways that academic research will be communicated in the future. The conference program attempts to place the analyses and debates within the framework of a global vision of academic research. Read More →

Paper proposes four pillars for scholarly communication to favor the speed and the quality of science

The authors identify four converging cornerstones for advancing the process of communicating academic research: enhancing products and formats of scholarly communication; immediate publication in Open Access; open peer review; and broad public recognition of the process of communication, of the corresponding products and of the academics involved. Read More →

Open Access and a call to prevent the looming crisis in science

The number of retracted articles has recently been on the rise. Björn Brembs identifies this tendency as a reflection of an imminent crisis in science whose origin is found in the reward and marketing system of researchers which pressures them to publish in high impact journals. The adoption of open access platforms is a way to prevent this crisis. Read More →

Declaration recommends eliminate the use of Impact factor for research evaluation

The use of the Impact Factor (IF) beyond the scope of journal ranking as a direct or indirect proxy for the evaluation of research quality, career promotions, granting of funds, ranking of graduate programs, etc. has been questioned for quite some time. The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment makes a new and critical call against the use of the IF in the evaluation of research. Read More →