Cano, V (1995). Characteristics of the Publishing Infrastructure of Peripheral Countruies, A Comparison of Periodical Publications From Latin America With Periodicals From t

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Jointly published by Elsevier Science B. V., Am sterdamand Akad~miai Kiad6, Budapest

Sclentometrics,Vol. 34,N o 1 (199 5) 121-138

C H A R A C T E R I S T I C S O F T H E P U B L I S H I N G

I N F R A S T R U C T U R E O F P E R I P H E R A L C O U N T R I E S A

C O M P A R I S O N O F P E R I O D I C A L P U B L I C A T I O N S F R O M

L A T I N A M E R I C A W I T H P E R I O D I C A L S

F R O M T H E U S A N D T H E U K

V. C A N O

Queen Margaret College, Depa rtment o f Comm unication an d Information Studies, Clerwood Terrace,Edinburgh EH12 8 TS, Scotland (UK)

(Received March 27, 1995)

Bibliometric research can provide science policy makers with indicators of the capacity of acountry's national scientific system to prod uce pri nted information. The capacity of t he localpublishing industry to produce scientific and technical periodical publications reflects theavailability of outlets for the dissemination of scientific findings. The present researchattempts to evaluate the role of the publishing industry in the level of bibliographic control,and the level o f pee r review of periodical publications from Latin America. A random searchwas performed on the 1990 Cd-Rom version of The Serials Directory,a commercially producedinternational refere nce source on periodical publications. A sample of 311 periodicals fromLatin America was downloaded to a local database. A similar search was performed onpublications from the United States and the United Kingdom for comparison purposes. Arandom search of 235 publications was downloaded into a local database. Publishers wereclassified for bot h samples according to th ree types: academic, governmental, and commercial.Publications were sorted thematically and indicators of bibliographic control, and of peerreview were recorded for bot h samples. Publications from Latin America showed a very lowlevel of bibliographic control, particularly in the case of the assignment of ISSN numbers,where 58 of the sample studied was published without this element of bibliographic control.This contrasted sharply with the periodicals from the US and UK, where 83 (195) journalshad an ISSN number assigned. The involvement of editorial boards in the academic quality ofLatin American publications amounted only to 21 of the sample studied. Periodicals fromthe US and UK report ed an editor as responsible for the journal in 40 (93) of the cases.This amount constitutes about double the number of editors reported by Latin Americanpublications. Latin American academic publishers are the most numerous publishers in thesample studied accounting for 37 (114) of the journals studied however, 68 (77) of thoseeditors printed periodicals without a named editor. Governmental publishers are the secondlargest publisher type. They produced 29 (89) of the journals in the sample. Commercialpublishers are responsib le for 26 (82) of the journals studied. Publications from the US andUK show a clear predominan ce of commercial publishers, accounting for 47 (111) of thejournals. Academic publishers only produced 29 (68) of the 235 journals in the sample. Thisclear dominance of the commercial publisher sector shows that publishing in at least the twocountries studied is clearly practised as a business enterprise. This is in sharp compari son tothe publishing patterns exhibited in Latin America where the academic sector is the mostprominent one.

0138-913 0/95/US $ 9.50Copyright 9 1995Akad~miai Kiad6, BudapestA ll rights reserved



V. CANO: PUBLISHING INFRASTRUCTURE OF PERIPHERAL CouNrI RIES

n t r o d u c t i o n

Th e t radi t ional out le t for the dissem inat ion of resea rch resul ts in the sc iences andsocial sc iences is the sc ient if ic journal . Ho we ver, i ts role as pr im ary e le m ent in ~hediffusion and exchan ge of sc ient if ic ideas h as bee n ser iously con tes ted in favour o f aperspect ive that l inks publ icat ion pract ices wi th the present evaluat ion and rewardsystems of science.1 Inde ed, s ince th e evaluat ion of sc ient if ic w ork ca n be inf luencedto some extent by the vis ibi l i ty and reputat ion of the journals in which the work ispublished, th e choic e of highly visible, pre stigious scientif ic jou rna ls as publicationout le ts has be com e a crucia l e le m ent in th e ca ree r of sc ientists. 2 Th e choice ofpubl icat ion out le t affects not only the vis ibi l i ty and recogni t ion of the work of a

scientist as an individual, bu t also plays a ro le in the visibil ity and re cog nition of theeffor ts of any country as a contr ib utor to sc ient if ic know ledge.

Th e mec hanisms b y w hich sc ien t if ic journa l s b eco m e academica l ly recognised ,vis ible and com m ercia l ly viable ve ntures are w orth consider ing s ince the publ ishinginfras t ructure of any country plays a key role in in t roducing and making avai lablejournals which publ ish the resul ts of local sc ience. However, the role of thepubl ishing industry as an interm edia ry in th e disseminat ion a nd vis ibil ity of sc ient if icjournals has n ot yet bee n suff ic ient ly rese arc hed f rom a bibl iometr ic perspective .3

Pioneer ing work in the de te rm ina t ion of ind ica tors fo r the eva lua tion of journa l sin the sc ience per iphery has been done in Ea s te rn E urope , wi th a par ti cu la r emphas i stowards Croat ia .Sorokin Maricic and Papes 4 presen ted a s tudy of 400 Croa t ianjourna l s s to red o n a l egal depos i to ry bas is on the Nat iona l and Univers ity L ibra ry o fZagreb. In th is s tudy several var iables (publ isher type, locat ion of publ isher, ac tualyear ly f requ enc y o f publ icat ion, longevity of th e journ al and the vital ity of thejourna l) wer e ident i f ied as contr ibutors to the deve lopm ent of an index of publ ishingcapac ity ' pe r them at ic a rea . Accord ing to the i r da ta , Croa t ian journa l s in the na tura lsciences , mathemat ics , b iotechnics and medicine have f ive t imes more publ ishing

capaci ty than journ als i n the socia l sc iences . In othe r words , C roat ian journals intho se are as survive the crit ical stages in their life as perio dica l 'pub lication s fivet imes bet ter than journa ls in the social sc iences. T he dete rm inat ion of cri tical stagesin the l i fe of per iodicals is in teres t ing; however, none of the/C roat ian journals in thats tudy were sub jec ted to the econo m ic pressures en coun te red by journa l s opera t ingwi th in a marke t -ba sed econom y.

In subsequent publ icat ions ,5, 6 the Croa t ian g roup rev iewed and expanded the i rwo rk into the conce pt of scienti fic communicabi l ity of journals .Price 7 prop osed this

122 Scientornetncs 34 1995)



V. CANO: PUBLISHING INFRA STRU CI URE OF PERIPHI~RAL COUNTRIES

conc ept as a quant i ta tive indicator of the ap pur ten anc e of a pap er to a speci f icresearc h f ront . Th e idea behind scientif ic com municabi l ity i s tha t there i s a

th resho ld n um ber o f re fe rence s tha t an au thor wi ll r e fe r to , in o rde r to pos i t ion theresearc h wi thin an app ropr ia te sc ienti fic context and, to jus t i fy the object ives of theresea rch . Tho se re fe rences p rov ide in fac t the back ground jus ti fi ca tion to fu r the r theresearchers ' c la im towards a contr ibut ion in the f ie ld ;Maricic Sorokin and Papes 5 in

an appl ica t ion o f Pr ice ' s wo rk se t the thresho ld a t f ive refere nce pape rs pe r ar t ic lepubl ished in a Croat ian journal . They concluded that a journal , taken as a whole , i sthe produ ct o f a g iven m icro socia l c limate , but tha t the sc ienti f ic comm unicabi l i tyof a journa l f rom the sc ience pe r iphery i s in f ac t roo ted n o t on ex t raneous pub l i sh ingfactors, bu t in the inheren t c om m unicabi l i ty of the authors . T heir v iew is there foreor iented towa rds the scienti fic worth of the papers publ ished wi thin a journal ,r a the r than towards the economic con tex t and compet i t ive p ressures f aced byscient is ts and publ ishers in a m ark et -ba sed context.

Severa l papers have a ddre ssed the i ssue o f b ibl iographic co ntrol and visibi lity o fpe r iod ica l s f rom deve lop ing coun t r i e s loca ted in a marke t -based economy.Cano 8

presented the s ta te of b ibl iographic control and vis ib i l i ty of per iodicals publ ished inSpa in and La t in Amer ica . On the bas i s o f tha t r e sea rch i t was conc luded tha tper iodicals publ ished in the Span ish language had minim um levels of b ibl iographic

con t ro l . In subsequen t r e sea rchCano 9 c o m p a r e d a s a m p l e o f L a t in A m e r i c a nper iod ica ls to a sam ple o f pe r iod ica l s f rom India . The purpose o f the com par i son wasto determine whether the publ ica t ion pat terns exhibi ted by the publ ishing indust ry inLat in America were s imi lar to those found in o ther developing countr ies . Thecom par ison show ed that Indian per iodicals exhibit h igher levels of b ibl iographiccontrol and in ternat ional v is ib il ity than thei r Lat in Am erica n co unterpar ts . T he re w asa l so a m arked in te res t o f com merc ia l pub l i she r s in Ind ia in the p roduc t ion o fper iodicals of an engineer ing, sc ient i f ic and technical nature . Commercia l publ ishersin La t in Amer ica appeared more in te res ted in pub l i sh ing wi th in the a r t s andhumani t ies and genera l in teres t areas .

Finally, Cano 1~ presen ted a comp ar i son o f Ind ian and La t in Am er ican pe r iod ica l swi th per iodicals f rom one of Eu rop e 's less favoure d regions , I re land. In th iscom par ison India pr ese nted s imi lar levels of b ibl iographic control and in ternat ionalvisibil i ty as Ir ish periodicals, al though individual publishing sectors showed differentlevels of inves tm ent p er them at ic sector.

The p resen t paper examines the ro le o f the pub l ishe r in the b ib liograph ic con t ro land academ ic recogn it ion o f pe riod ica l s f rom La t in Am er ica as comp ared to a

Scientometrics 34 1995) 123



V CANO: PUBLISHING INFRA STRUC TURE OF PERIPHERAL COUNTRIES

sample of per iodicals f rom the US and the UK. The concepts of vis ibi l i ty,bibl iographic contro l and aca dem ic recogni t ion shall be v ery br ief ly discussed since a

de ta i l ed expos i t ion can be found in re fe rences .8 -1~ Th e da tabase se lec ted fo r thes tudy and the m ethodology for sample se lec t ion a re p resen ted in the th i rd sec t ion ,the resul ts a re p rese nted in the f our th sect ion, and f inally a discussion of the f indingsand their impl icat ions to future re sea rch o n bibliographic control i s pres ented in thefifth section.

Bib l iog raph ic con t ro l academ ic qua l ity and comm erc ia l succ ess o f pe r iod ica lpub l i ca t ions

The un ique descr ip t ion of a journa l dea l s wi th the normal i sed app l ica t ion ofs tandard bibl iographic e lem ents to p rodu ce a s tan dard bibl iographic recor d that wil lfaci l i ta te i t s physical descr ipt ion and i ts access . Examples of such bibl iographicelements are : the t i t le of a journal , i t s ISSN number, i t s country of publ icat ion, i t sf requency , i ts pu bl isher e tc . The se e lem ents have bee n t radi t ional ly used by l ibrar iesand commerc ia l da tabase p roducers to p roduce compute r sea rchab le records . Theex is tence o f major b ib l iograph ic re fe rence sources such as the Nat iona l UnionCata logue , the O CL C ca ta loguing ne two rk or the ca ta logue of Th e B r it ish L ibra ry

al low for vi r tual ly any document produced in industr ia l ly developed countr ies to beobta ined wi th re la t ive ease . T here fore , fo r the purposes o f th is resea rch a per iod ica lpubl icat ion bec om es vis ible the m om en t i t can be uniquely ident i f ied and obtainedby i ts potent ia l rea ders .

The academic recogni t ion of a per iodical publ icat ion of ten ref lects a subt lein te rac t ion be tween the communica t ion needs o f the sc ien t i f i c communi ty, theacadem ic mot iva tion of the ed i to r and i ts ed i to r ia l board , and the econom icmotivat ion of i t s publ isher. Ideal ly, a l l of these mot ivat ions coincide to produce ajourn al that pr ints academ ical ly sound inform at ion, that i s acce pted and recogn isedby the sc ienti f ic com m unity it serves, an d that i t is a com m ercia l success . Since theacad em ic recogn i t ion of a journa l i s a com plex m echa nism that involves a t leas t theconstant in teract ion o f three di fferent groups of people w i th di fferent mot ivat ions , itis impor tan t to und ers tand the me chanisms lead ing to a success fu l pub lica tion bo thf rom an academ ic and an econo m ic perspec t ive .

In a n acad em ic perspect ive a journa l i s the resul t of the choices of scientis ts wh owish to com mu nica te the i r rese arch resu lt s and to s take a c laim of the i r con t r ibu tionto know ledge by submi t t ing m anuscr ip ts fo r rev iew to the ed i to r ia l board o f a

124 Scientometrics 34 1995)



V CANO: PUBLISHING INFRASTRUCTURE OF PERIPHERAL COUNTRIES

journal . The m em be rs of the ed i tor ia l board , sc ient is ts themselves , ac t as regula to rso f se l f- imposed resea rch s t andards in the academ ic communi ty, and m ake su re tha t

manuscr ip t s ge t a s sessed accord ing to the ru les o f the comm uni ty. Th e sc ien t is t andthe me m bers o f the ed i to r ia l board a re bo th m em bers o f the sc ien t if ic comm uni ty atl a rge , and the i r a ims fo r pub l i sh ing a re p resumably non-commerc ia l bu t r a the r

com pet i t ive on an acad em ic bas is , nTh e pu bl isher on the o the r hand, i s usual ly a f inancia l inves tor. Publ ishing

scienti fic l i te ra ture i s see n as a business enterpr ise w here a n ade qua te re turn for theor ig inal inves tment i s sought . S ince an economic re turn is expected and aninvestment i s a t s take , publ ishers of ten co-ordinate and orches t ra te the d i fferentac to rs involved in the es tab li shment o f a journa l in o rde r to ensure as much asposs ible i ts f inancial success . 12 M ajor sc ience pub l ishers a im to prod uce reeog nisedjournals f rom an academic , product ion, market ing, and dis t r ibut ion perspect ive .M ajor e ffo r ts a re spen t by pub l ishe r s to loca te po ten ti a l ed i to r i al bo ard m em ber sthat can guarante e acad em ic quali ty, and that can a t t rac t by vi r tue o f thei r reputa t ionsuff ic ien t manu scr ip ts to keep the journa l v iab le a s an ac adem ic and a com merc ia lventure . Ca m pbell 13sum m arises the posi t ion of m ajor pu bl ishers by s ta ting thatthere i s no publ ishing myst ique bu t the m ere ap pl ica t ion of bas ic publ ishingprinciples including: sou nd m arke ting princ iples (such as the iden tif ication o f an

audience , ref lec ting the ne ed b y the sc ient if ic com m uni ty for a new journal ) , a goo dedi tor ia l board , a sol id product ion infras t ructure and dis t r ibut ion channels , andextensive prom ot ion.

ethodology

The purp ose of th is research w as to examine the level of b ibl iographic control andacademic recogn i t ion o f La t in Amer ican se r i a l s and to compare them to the

b ib liograph ic con t ro l and recogn i tion o f pe r iod ica ls f rom the U S and the UK . Th ecom par isons we re bas ed on indicators of b ibl iographic control , and indicators ofpeer review .

An init ial search on TheSerials Directory a reference source specia l is ing in theprovis ion of b ibl iographic records of per iodical publ ica tions , was pe rform ed todeterm ine the extent of the popu la t ion of per iodicals f rom the regions unde r s tudy.Al l pubf ica t ions we re s e lec ted us ing thei r corresp ondin g c ountry cod es . 14 Th e searchyie lded a to ta l of 5 ,167 Iberoa m erica n publ ica tions . This search included pu bl ica t ionsf rom Spa in and Po r tuga l becau se it was impor tan t to de te rmine the ex ten t o f the




V. C A N O : P U B L I S H IN G I N F R A S T R U C I ' U R E O F P E R I P H E R A L C O U N T R I E S

cont r ibu t ion of Span ish and Por tugu ese l anguage-based journa l s to w orm l it e ra tu re .Th e 5 ,167 publ ica tions we re then groupe d in to 7 them at ic ca tegories 9 The ca tegor ies

we re based on the lis t o f Subjec t Head ings p rov ided in TheSerials DirectoryI t wasnot possible to include the rem aining 1798 per iodicals as they fe ll outs ide the 7ca tegor ies con templa ted 9 A s a comp ar i son po in t a sea rch on the per iod ica lproduc t ion of the res t o f the wo r ld was per fo rm ed on the same sub jec t ca tegor ies asthose s tud ied in Iberoam er ica . The resu lt s a re p re sen ted in Tab le 1 .

Ta b l e 1

G e o g r a p h i c a n d t h e m a t i c d i s t r i b u t io n o f p e r i o d i c a l p u b l i c at i o n s

G e o g r a p h i c g r o u p I b e r o a m e r i c a Wo r l dT h e m a t i c g r o u p N N

Social Scien ces 939 28 18.811 24Ar t s and Hu man i t i es (A RT ) 862 26 13 .912 18Sciences (SCI) 487 14 12.638 16Agr icu l tu ra l Sc iences (A G R) 353 10 6 .347 8Eng ineer ing (EN G) 284 8 12 .405 16He a l th Sc iences (M ED ) 272 8 6 .019 8Gen era l In te res t (G EN ) 172 5 8 .498 10To tals 3.369 99 78.630 100

I t is in teres t ing to note that in spi te of the hu ge differen ces in actual num bersbe tween the wor ld p roduc t ion of per iod ica l s and those o f Iberoamer ica , the re wasvery li tt le d i ffe rence in the percen tage s excep t fo r the case o f E ngineering , w here thewor ld 's p roduc t ion (16%) con t ras t s to tha t o f Iberoam er ica (8%) .

Sample determination

A rand om sample o f 311 per iod ica ls f rom L at in A m er ica was d rawn exc luding a llpubl icat ions f rom Spain an d Po rtugal . A second sam ple of 235 publ icat ions f rom theUS and U K w as drawn for com par i son purposes . Al l pe r iod ica ls w ere d raw n on thebasis of their respect ive country codes9 Indicators of bibl iographic control ( ISSNavailabili ty) and retrievab il i ty (availabil ity of a yea rly index) an d ind icators o facademic recogni t ion (ev idence of peer rev iew mechanisms) were de te rmined perjournal sampled. Publ ishers were c lassf ied into three groups: academic,gove rnm ental and com m ercia l . A jus t if icat ion and d iscussion of the indicatorsse lec ted can be found in re fe rence s .8-10

12 6 cientometrics 34 (1995)



V CANO: PUBLISHING INFRASTRUCTURE OF PERIPHERAL C O U N T R I E S

e s u l t s

Bibliographic control o f Latin merican publications

T he ana lysi s o f the da ta on the ava i lab il ity o f b ib liograph ic i t ems in the per iod ica lpu b l i c a ti on s o f L A g ive s ev idence o f m in im u m l eve ls o f b ib l i og rap h i c co n t ro l. I n de ed ,t he da t a pe r t a i n ing t o t he num be r o f j ou r na l s t ha t l i s ted an ISSN n um be r ( F i g . 1)show tha t o n ly 42 (130 ) o f t he 3 11 j ou rna l s s t ud i ed l is t ed t h is mo s t imp o r t an t i temof b ib l io g raph i c i den t if i c a ti on and co n t ro l. T he d i s t ri bu t ion o f j o u rn a l s w i th a n I SSNnumber, pe r top ic and geographic g roup i s a l so p resen ted in F ig . 1 . S imi la r ly, on ly7 (21 ) o f t he La t i n A m er i ca n j ou rn a l s r e po r t e d t he p r in t i ng o f a pe r iod i c i nde x ,(Table 2 ) , thus making the re t r i eva l o f a par t i cu la r a r t i c le wi th in the journa lex t r eme ly c umbe r some . An ana ly s i s o f t h e da t a on t h e av a i l a b i l i t y o f mu l t i l i n g u a lpe r iod i ca ls p rod uce d in La t i n A m er i ca shows t h a t on l y 22 ( 67) o f t he j ou rna l s a r ee i t he r pub l ished i n mo re t h an 1 l ang uage o r w i th a bs t rac t s i n mo r e t han 1 l an g u a g e(Table 3 ) . Th is seems to sugges t tha t the pub l i shers a im towards a loca l readersh ip ,o r towa rds a n a lm os t exc lusive ly Span ish-speak ing aud ience . H ow ever, i t was no tposs ib le to s tudy the e ffec t o f c i rcu la t ion da ta o n loca l read ersh ip bec ause on ly 2 o ft he s am p le o f La t i n Am er i can pu b l i c a ti ons p rov id e d c i rcu l a ti o n in fo rma t ion .

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T h e m a t i c A r e a sl Ar ts ~ Scl ~ Eng ~ Gen ~ Med ~ Agr lc

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Fig 1 Bibliographic control Distributi on of journals with ISSN

Scientoraetrics 34 1995) 1 2 7



V. C A N O : P U B L I S H I N G I N F R A S T R U C T U R E O F P E R I P H E R A L C O U N T R I E S

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V. CANO: PUBLISHING INFRASTRUCTURE OF PERIPHERAL COUNTRIES

Pe er review

The academ ic recogni tion of the La t in Am er ican journa l s was a l so le f t in d oubts ince only 21 of the journa ls (65) l is ted an edi tor or an e di tor ia l boa rd (Fig . 2). Th eabsence of an ed i to r respons ib le fo r the academ ic in tegr ity o f the journa l , a s anenforcer o f ed i to r ia l p rac t ices , and an overseer o f the peer rev iew process revea l s am ajor shor tco min g of the publ ishers . 13 I t i s poss ible that the re is indeed a p erso nresponsible for the se imp ortan t ac adem ic activi ties , and that he o r she was s imply notrepor ted however, the f requen t omiss ion of a named ed i to r i s d i s tu rb ing . Thedis t ribut ion of journa ls wi th l is ted edi tors is pre sen ted in Fig. 2. On ly 15 (48) o f thejournals presented a descr ipt ion of scope (Table 4) . This data is consis tent wi th thedata pre sen ted in Fig . 2 in w hich very few edi tors w ere l is ted, since the desc r ipt ion ofscope f ie ld is the place wh ere the edi tors or the edi tor ia l board, descr ibe the a im s ofthe journa l as w el l as i ts scope.

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m l Arts [ ~ Set ~ Eng [ ~ Gen [ ~ Med [: ~ Agrlc

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Fig. 2. Journals with listed editor peer reviewed)

Ma jor Lat in A me rican publ ishing groupsA breakdo wn in to th ree ca tegor ies wasper fo rm ed on the Publ ishers f i eld in o rder to have a c lea re r p ic tu re o f the sec torsresponsible for the product ion of per iodical publ icat ions in Lat in America . Thebrea kdo wn is prese nted in Tab le 5 and Fig. 3. Th e m ajor group of publishers was theacad em ic sector compris ing 37 (114) of the journals in the sample . As a whole thedis t ribut ion of publ isher types is qui te even, wi th gov ernm ental publ ishers providing29 (82) of the journals , and com m ercia l publ ishers providing 26 (89) of thejournals.




V . C A _N O : P U B L I S H I N G I N F R A S T R U C I U R E O F P E R I P H E R A L C O U N T R I E S

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V. CANO: PUBLISHING INFRASTRUCTURE OF PERIPHERAL COUNTRIES

C o m m e r c l a l A c a d e m l c

N o l . l d N o l . ld .6 8

A c a d e m l29 _ I.

18 C o r n m e r c l a l2 6

U S U K P u b l i s h e r s L A P u b l i s h e r s

(US & UK N.235) (LA N-311)

Fig. 3. Journals pe r publishing sector

Investment areas A nexam inat ion o f the them at ic areas in which each publ ishergroup inves ted showed tha t the a r t s & humani t ie s (32 ) i s the p re fe red a rea fo rLat in American academic publ ishers . Publ ica t ions in sc ience and engineer ing fol lowclosely wi th 27 . Science and eng ineer ing publ ica t ions are a lso a pr ior i ty area for

Lat in Am erican gove rnm ent publ ishers wi th 39 of thei r produ ct ion in th is sector.This i s c losely fo l lowed by publ ica t ions in agr icul ture w i th 30 . C om m ercia lpubl ishers on the o ther hand show a major in teres t in publ ishing per iodicals in thearea of genera l in teres t (30 ) , wi th thei r second area in the ar ts and humani t ies . Thedis tr ibution o f journa ls p er them at ic a rea by publ isher type is pres ented in Fig. 4 .

Performa nce o f publishers per indicatorAcademic pub l i she r s a re the mos tnum erous pub l ishe r s in the sample s tud ied . Acade m ic pub l ishe r s a re r espons ib le fo r37 (114) of the journa ls s tudied howe ver, 68 (77) of those edi tors pr in ted

periodicals without a named editor. This result is part icularly surprising since i t wasto be expec ted tha t the academic com mun i ty o f pub l ishe r s would be the mos tsensi ti sed to the i ssue of pee r reviewed publ ica tions . Likewise , 91 (104) of theacade m ic edi tors pr in ted journals w i thout an index a t the end o f the volume .Gove rnmenta l pub l i she r s a re the sec ond l a rges t pub l ishe r type . They p rod uce d 29(89) of the journals in the sample; however, 94 (84) of thei r publ ica t ions werewithout an edi tor, and 95 (85) wi thout an index. Com m ercia l publ ishers areresponsible for 26 (82) of the journals s tudied. In th is case 72 (59) of thepubl ica tions we re produc ed wi thout edi tor and 95 (78) wi thout an index. In the




V. C A N O: P UB L I S H I N G I N F R A S T R U C I T J R E O F P E R I P H E R A L C O U N T R I E S

case o f the in t roduc t ion of ISSN num bers , the com mu ni ty o f academ ic publ ishersfared the best , only a l lowing 44 (50) of i ts product ion to be without an ISSN.

Ho wev er com me rc ia l and governmen ta l pub l ishers a l lowed over 60 of the i rproduc t ion to be w ithout the ISSN.

Pe

rce

nt

a

0

1

ProductI

on

1 0 0 - Z_______ . / /__.. / - -

,-~-= *~ . ' r . . . . . . / . . . .

~

S .. } ~ . . .5 0 - ' . : ' . : : '

I I I . . . . .2 5 - /

I _0 %- - -- -, - - ' ~ ~ n

Acad.US/UK Acad.LA Gvt.US/UK Gvt,LA Comml US/UKC omm. LA

T h e m a t i c A r e a s

I Arts ~ Sci. ~ q Eng. ~ Ge n. [~ Med. ~ A grl c.

F ig . 4. Inve s tme n t a reas pe r pub l i sh e r

As a w ho le , t he co mm un i ty o f L a t in A me r i c a n acad e m i c p ub li she rs pe r f o r m edthe bes t in a ll the ind ica tors . The i r p e r form ance in t e rm s of lack of ass ignment o fISSN num bers , lack of p r inted indices , unl is ted edi tors , an d uni l ingual publ ications islower per ind ica tor than the average exh ib i ted by the to ta li ty o f the La t in A m er ica npubl ishers in the sam ple . For exam ple , as a whole Lat in A m eric an publishers a llowed58 of the i r p roduc t ion to be publi shed wi thout an ISSN; 79 of the i r p roduc t ion

was without a li s ted edi tor, and 93 withou t an index to facil i ta te the re t r ieval of thear t ic les publ ished within . As evidence of some improvement , academic publ ishersa l lowed on ly 44 of the i r p roduc t ion to be wi thout ISSN numb ers , 68 wi thout anedi tor, and 91 withou t an index. Th ese resul ts are presen ted in Fig . 5 .




V. C A N O : PU B L I S H IN G I N F R A S T R U C I ' U R E O F P E R I P H E R A L C O U N T R I E S

P e r c e n t a g e o l P u b l i s h e d J o u r n a l s

I 0 0 ~

8 0 ........... ~6 0 .......4 0 - . .. .. ~

U S . A c a . U S .G v t . 0 S . C o m m

N o E d i t o r 5 0 9 1 5 11 L a n g . 9 9 9 8 9 9N o I n d e x 8 1 9 5 8 6N o ISSN 13 30 12

i i i i i i i i . .. . . .. .

.. _. .. ~

L A A c a d L A G v L L A C o m m

8 % 9 4 % 7 2 %7 8 ~ 88

9 1 5 9 54 4 6 6 % 6 9 %

I n d i c a t o r s

m N o E d i to r ~ 1 L a n g . ~ N o I n d e x ~ N oI S S N

F ig . 5 , P u b l i s h e r ' s p e r f o r m a n c e p e r i n d ic a t o r. U S / U K a n d L A

Bibl iographic control an d acad em ic recognit ion o f publ icat ions f ro m the US the U K

The per iod ica l s f rom these deve loped count r ies p rov ided an in te res t ing

comparison in the cases of most indicators of bibl iographic control . The sampleconsis ted of 235 per iodicals rando m ly selected f rom theSerials Directoryin the samesubjec t a reas as the per iod ica l s f rom Lat in Amer ica . The sample exh ib i ted a muchbet ter level of bibl iographic control , par t icular ly in the case of ISSN ass ignat ion,w her e 83 (195) journa ls had an ISSN num ber ass igned (see Fig . 1) 2 . Similarly,40 (93) of the publicat ions rep or te d an edi tor as responsible for the journal , seeFig . 2; th is am ount cons t itu tes about double the num ber o f ed i to rs repo r ted by L a t inAmer ican publ ica t ions . The leve l o f repor ted ed i to rs by US and UK publ ica t ionsagrees qui te wel l wi th the descr ipt ion of scope exhibited in Tab le 4, W her e 37 (88)of the publ ications l is ted a scope, s ince it i s usual ly the edi tor or the edi tor ia l boardthat decides on th e scop e of the journal .

Pub l i c a t i ons f rom the US and UK sh ow a c l ea r p r edominan c e o f commerc i a lpubl ishers , accoun t ing for 47 (111) of the journals . A cad em ic publ ishers onlyproduce d 29 (68) o f the 235 journa l s in the sample . Th is c lea r dom inance of thecom m ercia l publ isher secto r shows that publ ishing in a t leas t the two co untr iess tudied is dear ly pract ised as a business enterpr ise . This is in sharp comparison to




V CANO: PUBLISHING INFRA STRUCTU RE OF PERI PHERA L COUNTRIES

the pub li sh ing pa t te rns exh ib ited in L a t in A m er ica w here th e academ ic sec tor is themo st prom inen t one, 37 (114) a l though the othe r sectors fol low closely behind.

The re w as a m a rked p r edom inan c e o f t he En g l ish l angu a ge as t he o n ly med iumof comm unica t ion in the pub l ica t ions f rom the US and the UK . Engl ish l anguagepubl ications acc oun ted for 99 (232) of the sample s tudied, see Tab le 3 . Th e sampleof U S and U K publ icat ions show ed a level of pr inted indices of 13 (21), see Tab le2. This level is almo st dou ble th at o f Latin Am er ica n publications, but i t st il l exhibitsa very low in te res t on the par t o f the ed i to rs o f the journa l s to he lp re aders loca teart icles retrosp ective ly via a yea rly index.

Limitations o f the study

The fn 's t l imi ta t ion of the s tudy concerns the re l iabi l i ty of the commercia ldatabase f rom which the sample was selected. Universal b ibl iographic controlremains an e lus ive goal s ince not a l l publ icat ions have a re t r ievable bibl iographicrecord . Accord ing to da ta 15 presen ted by the ISDS cen t re in Par i s, in Janu ary o f1991, the ISDS data base contains 518,962 reco rds sub m it ted by 50 ISDS inputcentre s repor t ing info rm at ion on 193 countr ies . This database l is ts a ll the per iodicalpubl icat ions that have had an ISSN ass igned, but i t cann ot offer any indicat ion of the

num ber o f pub l ica t ions p rodu ced w or ld-wide tha t do no t have such a des igna tion .Th e databa se selected for this s tudy com prises ti tles that h ave ISSN nu m bers as wel las ti tles that do not have i t, there fore i t was fe l t that i t was m or e represen tat ive of thepopulat ion of per iodical publ ications pr inte d w orld-wide.

The es t imate of the world 's product ion of sc ient i f ic and technical l i tera ture is acom plex prob lem beca use o f the unavailabil ity of databases which are both re l iableand com prehens ive , f rom which to es t imate popula tion to tal s. T heSerials irectoryisa re la tive ly rece n t re fe renc e source p rodu ced by a compos i te s tra tegy : da ta f rommajor l ibrary, propr ie tary data f rom the publ ishing company, and mult i l ingualquest ionnaires . As such, i t combined the approaches used by previous research intoone database .

Former research in th is area has usual ly counted the i tems l is ted in large,pres t igious l ibrar ies or any other major l ibrary in a par t icular geographical region.Th e prob lem inheren t in such researc h i s tha t co l lec t ions o f major l ib ra r ies re f lec ttheir ins t itu t ional col lect ion-d evelopm ent pol icy over the yea rs , and as such, aco l lec t ion can se r ious ly under represe n t o r over look the per iod ica l ou tpu t o f som egeographica l reg ions . The second approach to es t imate the p roduc t ion of per iod ical s

3 4 Scientometrics 34 1995)



V CANO: PUBLISHING INFRA STRUCTU RE OF PERIPH ERAL COUNTRIES

wor ld -wide has be en to ba se the es t ima te on scho la r ly b ib l iograph ies o f journa l s in apart icular discipline, an d sup plem en t it with questionna ires.he prob lem wi th such

an app roac h is tha t the re l iabi li ty of the data res ts ent i re ly on the t imel iness of thescholar ly b ibl iography and the re spon se ra te to the quest ionnaires . 16The second l imi tat ion o f the s tudy concerns the s ize o f the sample o f pe r iod ica ls

se lec ted in re la t ion to the to ta l p opula t ion of per iodicals pr in ted w orld-wide. Th e s izeof the sam ple stu died re flects f'mancial an d logist ic constraints . In spite o f the fac ttha t a l l the da ta was downloaded f rom the CD-ROM, res t r i c t ions in the fo rmat t ingof the dow nloaded da ta invo lved a cons ide rab le amou nt o f ma nua l m an ipu la tion o frecords unt i l su i table format t ing sof tware could be devised. A ser ies of s tudies us inglarger samp les is con tem plated to fo l low this s tudy. Th e resu l ts presen ted should bethere fore co nsidered e xplora tory and in the na ture o f a p i lo t s tudy.

i s c u s si o n a n d c o n c l u s i o n s

On the bas is of the data analysed in the preceding sect ion, the publ ica t ioninfras t ructure of the L at in Am erica n countr ies s tud ied is s ti ll in a rudim entary s tage .Publ ica t ions i ssued f rom this infras t ructure do not present the minimum levels ofbibl iographic control necessary to be uniquely ident i f ied , read, and subscr ibed to by

an in ternat ional audience . Per iodical publ ica t ions i ssued f rom such an infras t ructureare condemned to a ghost - l ike exis tence , and the academics that publ ish in them arecondem ned by implica tion to have the i r r e sea rch resu l ts unrecogn i sed . An imm aturepubl ishing infras t ructure m ean s that there are re la tively few val id publ ica t ionoppor tuni t ies avai lable local ly. Th e gene ra l lack of in teres t to publ ish in journals ofper iphera l nat ions or in languages o ther than Engl ish , i s a fea ture that i s common toeli te scientists from the p eriph ery as well as to scientists from the cen tre, an d this

tenden cy is supp or ted to a cer ta in extent by the rew ard sys tems for sc ience prevai ling

within specif ic LD C. F or exam ple , cer ta in countr ies in Lat in Am erica have ins t itu tedpolicies carried o ut on a nationa l basis , to rew ard eli te scientists on a poin tagebased sys tem for the publ ica t ion of ar t ic les in speci f ic in ternat ional journals , pre-se lec ted in advance by a coal i t ion of sc ience adminis t ra tors , sc ience advisors , andsubject exper ts . This pointage sys tem impl ies a tac i t recogni t ion that the academicquali ty of local jour na ls is suspect .

Th i s p rac ti ce the re fo re encourages the genera t ion o f knowledge and thepubl ica t ion of doc um ents gea red to in ternat ional audiences , in languages o ther thanthe na t iona l one , and en ta i l s a number o f cho ices as to the types o f p rob lems to be

Scientometr ics 34 1995) 135



V CANO: PUBLISHING INFRA STRUC TURE OF PERI PHERA L COUNTRIES

researched .17 In th e case o f Mexico thi s system has l ead to c on s id er ab lecontroversy.18 Moreover, th is pract ice undercuts the development of local journals ,

which have the potent ia l of act ing as viable local d isseminat ion mechanisms, asinformation outlets for local invisible colleges and as possible catalysts for thedevelo pm ent of se l f - regulatory m echa nism s in accord ance to a scienti fic e thos .

This imp lem entat ion o f a s t ra tegy favor ing the develop m ent of a local publ ishinginfras t ructure wou ld a l low local publ icat ions to es tablish and develop a localscient if ic press wi th progress ively m ore sophis t icated edi tor ia l an d r efere eingpract ices . Loca l journa l s cou ld deve lop an ind igenous readersh ip-base com posed o fresearchers an s tudents . As the publ ishing and edi tor ia l s tandards improved such apo licy would a l low sc ien ti st s and journa l s f rom D C to be com e m ore v is ib leinternationally.19 This scen ar io can be con tem plated f rom a t radi t ional pape r-basedjournal product ion, or f rom the a l ternat ive posi t ion of per iodicals developed anddissemina ted in ma chine- reada b le fo rm. T he research resu lt s o f loca l sc ien ti st s cou ldbe made ava i lab le in e lec t ron ic fo rmat and d i ssemina ted th rough loca l ly re fe reedelectronic journa ls and throu gh discussion groups on a n at ional basis. In ternat ional ly,the journals could be disseminated through gopher- l ike faci l i t ies in to the Internet .The deve lopment o f e lec t ron ic journa l s would t ake advan tage of the fac t tha t mos tLa t in Am er i can coun t r ie s a r e a l r e ad y con nec t ed to t h e In t e r ne t t h ro ugh m a i n - f r a m e

connect ions via large ac adem ic centres , and the largest publ ishing group in the a reais indeed the academic sector. Moreover i t i s conceivable to imagine that academicsin La t in A m er ica a l read y use compute r- fac il i ti e s to c rea te the very same d ocum entsthat are sent as p aper-m anuscr ipts or as disket tes to journal edi tors . 2~

The spread of t e lecomm unica t ion ne tworks th roughout the w or ld has fac il it a tedthe spread of the p roduc t ion and d i ssemina tion of in format ion in a paper- less fo rmat ,through elect ronic channels .21 Re fe re ed e lec t ron ic journa l s a re no longer theexception.22-23 Major pub li sh ing groups in Eu rop e and N or th Am er ica have a l ready

gone beyon d exp er imenta l phases in the deve lopm ent o f e lec t ron ic journa l s , and inthe p rovision of se lec ted doc um ents in a pure ly e lec tron ic fo rmat .24 Electronicprodu ct ion a nd dissem inat ion of journals has viable possibi li ties for developingcount r ies in t e rms of speed of re t r i eva l o f documents , speed and brea th o fd i ssemina t ion of resea rch resu lt s, and re la t ive ly mo des t cos t s when com pared to thecosts of t radi t ional formats of product ion, access ion, s torage, d isseminat ion andretr ieval of pr inted inform at ion.




V. C A N O : P U B L I S H IN G I N F R A S T R U C r U R E O F P E R IP H E R A L C O U N T R I E S

e f e r e n c es a n d n o t e s

1 . GARVEY, B. C . Gm~-~rr8, In form al channe l s o f comm unica t ion in the beh av io ura l sc iences : the i rre levance in the s t ruc tu r ing o f fo rmal o r b ib l iograph ic con t ro l . In :Foundation of Access toKnowledge, a Sympo sium,Syracuse: Syracuse U niv ersi ty Press , 1968.

2 . T h e p u b l i c a t io n o f r e s e a r c h r e s u lt s i n sc i en t if ic j o u r n a l s i s p r e s e n t l y i n t e r p r e t e d a s t h e e n d p r o d u c to f r e s e a r c h i n a f i n a l a n d p u b l i c f o rm , a n d t h e n a t u r e o f t h e i n f o r m a t i o n c o n t a i n e d i n t h e s c i e n ti f icj o u r n a l i s b o t h f o r m a l a n d r e p o si t o ry. N o n e t h e l es s , s c ie n t is t s c o n t i n u e t o s u b m i t m a n u s c r i p t s f o rp u b l i c a ti o n s a l t h o u g h t h e i r m o t i v a t io n m i g h t b e m o r e l i n k e d t o t h e p r e s e n t r e w a r d s y s t e m s o fc o m p e t i ti v e s c ie n c e t h a n t o t h e d e s i re f o r c o m m u n i c a t io n . F o r m o r e i n f o r m a t i o n o n t h i s s e e J . I LRAVETZ, Scientific Knowledge an d its Social Problems,Ox ford, Cl aren do n Press , 1971, p . 282.

3 . T h e p r o b l e m s o f t h e p u b l i s h i n g i n d u s t r y i n D C s h a s h o w e v e r b e e n e x p l o r e d b y r e se a r c h e r s i n l i b r a r yand in forma t ion sc ience. See T. MLAKI, Ser ia ls o f the po or na t ions : the i r na tu re , im por tance ,p r o b l e m s a n d s u g g e s t e d s o l u t i o n s ,International Cataloguing:14 (4 ) (1985) 39-41 or ILDOUGHERTY, Th e s ta te o f p rofess iona l p ub l i sh ing in n on- indus t r i a l i zed na t ions ,Ira Journal, 8 (3)

( 1 98 2 ) 2 7 3 - 2 7 7 . F o r a n e a r l i e r a s s e s s m e n t o f t h e p r o b l e m s o f b i b l i o g r a p h ic c o n tr o l i n L a t i nAm er ican Ser ia ls , v iewed f rom the perspec t ive o f a p rofess iona l b ib l io graph er see A. V. TJARgS,Coping wi th La t in A me r ican se r ia l s ,Serials Librarian,3 (4 ) (1979) 407-41 5 .

4. B. SOROKIN, S. MARIClC, Z. PAPES, Life of dom est ic period icals in C roatia ,Scientia Yugoslavica,16(1990) 163 - 1 78.

5. S. MARICIC, B. SOROIaN, Z. PAPES, Scient i f ic com mu nicab i l i ty indic ators fo r the per iod icals in theCroa t ian b ib l iography, Ser ies B ,Informatologia, 24(3 ) (1992) 109-128 .

6. S. MARICIC, Ev alua t ing per iod icals a t the scient i f ic per iph ery. R eview ar t ic le ,IA SLI C Bullet in,38(1993) 1 - 16.

7 . D . PRICE, Networks o f sc ien t i fi c papers . The pa t t e rn o f b ib l iograph ic re fe rences ind ica tes the n a tu reof the sc ien ti f ic research f ron t ,Science,149 (1968) 510-51 5 .

8 . V. CANO, Bib l iom et r ic con t ro l and in te rna t ion a l v i s ib il i ty o f La t in Am er ican per iod ica l pub l ica t ions ,In: Science Indicators for Developing Countries,R. ARVANm S, J . GAILLARD (Eds) , Par is , E di t io nsOrs tom, 1992 , pp . 511 -526 .

9. V. CANO, Period icals f rom deve lopin g coun tr ies : Bibl io graph ic con trol visibil ity,InternationalInformation Communication an d Education,12 (2 ) (1993) 143-1 64 .

10 . V. CAYO, In te rna t iona l v i s ib i li ty o f pe r iod ica ls f rom I re land , Ind ia an d La t in Amer ica ,Knowledgean d Policy,6 (3 - 4 ) ( 19 93 - 94) 55 - 78 .

11. J . MARTYN, Pro l i fe ra t ion a nd f ragm enta t ion o f journa l s . In :The Scientific Journal, A. J. MEADOWS(Ed . ) , London , ASL IB, 1979, pp . 68- 70 .

12. J . JARWS, Cos t s and fu l l cost r ecovery : B udge t ing fo r journa l s an d jus t i fy ing new journa l s , In :Learn ed Journals: The Problems of Pricing and Buying Aroun d,Letchwor th , Hef t s . : Eps i lon Press ,1985 , pp . 1 -9 .

13. R. CAMPBELL, Th e p ubl ishe r 's posi t ion: Survival in an e lectron ic world, In:Changing Roles inInformation Distribution,AN y MA RIE CUSNIN6HAM, W. WICKS (Ed s) , Phi lade lphia , Penn . : NFA IS,1993 , pp . 39 -63 .

14. Th e L a t in Ame r ican cou nt r i es inc luded were : Arg en t ina , Braz i l , Bo l iv ia , Colomb ia , Chi le , Cos taRica , Cuba , Domin ican Republ ic , Ecuador, E l Sa lvador, Gua temala , Honduras , Mexico , Nicaragua ,P e r u , P a n a m a , P u e r t o R i co , P a ra g u ay, U r u g u a y a n d Ve n e z u e l a . T h e c o m p a r a t i v e s a m p l e w a s m a d eo f p u b l ic a t i o n s f r o m t h e U n i t e d K i n g d o m , a n d t h e U S A .

1 5. P e r s o n a l C o m m u n i c a t i o n g ra c io u s ly s u b m i t t e d t o t h e a u t h o r b y t h e I S D S i n p u t c e n t e r i n t h e H a g u e ,T h e N e t h e r l a n d s.




Documents

Cano, V (1995). Characteristics of the Publishing Infrastructure of Peripheral Countruies, A Comparison of Periodical Publications From Latin America With Periodicals From t