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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">The following news item should be of
interest. It also demonstrates the importance of national and
regional portals like Scielo, Redalcy and others for promoting
access. <br>
"Thomson Reuters Spotlights Emerging Research Centers with the
Addition of SciELO Database to Web of Knowledge"<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/25/idUS160209+25-Jul-2012+HUG20120725">http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/25/idUS160209+25-Jul-2012+HUG20120725</a><br>
<br>
Bo-Christer Björk<br>
<br>
On 10/6/12 8:42 PM, Jean-Claude Guédon wrote:<br>
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I would like to point out a recent issue of Educación Superior y
Sociedad that was put together by one of the finest observers of
Latin American science policy, Dra. Hebe Vessuri, that deals with
Open Access.<br>
<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://ess.iesalc.unesco.org.ve/index.php/ess">http://ess.iesalc.unesco.org.ve/index.php/ess</a>
<br>
<br>
The issue includes articles by members of the OJS team, among
others. it also gives an interesting glimpses into the level of
discussions on OA as it evolves in latin America.<br>
<br>
One article is in English and Spanish. The rest is only in
Spanish.<br>
<br>
The Latin American scene is interesting in that it foregrounds an
issue that has not been discussed often in OA circles: while OA
helps promote the visibility of researchers (the "OA advantage")
as studied in the case of repositories), it can also help promote
research that has been placed in a peripheral and invisible
position by the present two-tier system of science communication
(inside or outside the web of science and Scopus, for example).<br>
<br>
Quality of research is related only partially to inclusion in
these bibliographic tools and citation trackers, despite some
claims to the contrary. There is quality, a lot of it, outside
these citation trackers. Much research of quality is thus
forgotten or neglected. It is lost science.<br>
<br>
Promoting research from regions such as Latin America, but also
Africa, Asia, etc., is another benefit of open access, but it must
be designed in a different and complementary way: research in
these regions should be made sufficiently visible and prestigious
as to prevent it from being safely ignored by labs and researchers
in countries that produce most of the research in the world.
Repositories help insofar as visibility is concerned, but they are
not sufficient because peripheral research, so to speak, lacks
branding (not quality, but rather branding). Journals can provide
this, and OA journals do it best.<br>
<br>
This is not a statement against repositories; they too are needed,
very needed. But in peripheral (so-called) regions, the problem is
compounded by a lack of prestige and branding ability. OA journals
try to respond to this need. How best to achieve this is still a
matter of discussions and explorations, but SciELO and RedALyC are
attempts aiming straight at these problems.<br>
<br>
I cannot refrain concluding with a statement from an African
novelist who, while dealing with literature, says things that can
be easily transposed in the area of knowledge and science: "<i>As
for now, caught between condescendance and generous curiosity,
African literatures find it difficult to insert their mediocrity
inside the others' mediocrity, and their magnificence inside the
others' magnificence. They are condemned to living among each
other."</i> Sami Tchak, Désir d'Afrique (Paris, Gallimard,
2002), p. 312. Thanks to Alice Le Filleul who, unwittingly,
attracted my attention to this splendid analysis. My own
translation.<br>
<br>
Good reading.<br>
<br>
Jean-Claude Guédon<br>
<br>
PS I have not read and checked every last article of this
collection as I became aware of it recently, so that I cannot be
sure that I agree with all the content. But I am sure the content
is relevant to OA advocates and can help shape their strategic
thinking in this particular arena.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
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