Editors sign Manifesto on journal evaluation in Latin America and create the Latin American Association of Scientific Editors (ALAEC)
ALAEC Manifesto for the responsible use of metrics in science assessments in Latin America and the Caribbean
15 September 2021
From Latin American Association of Scientific Editors (ALAEC) We appeal to scientific authorities, Ministries and Universities at the regional level, as well as those responsible for evaluation agencies,
managers of universities and research centers, to subscribe to and comply with the DORA Declaration (2013), with the recommendations on the use of bibliometric indicators indicated in the Leiden Manifesto (2015) and with the Helsinki Initiative (2019) on multilingualism.
We are in favor of an open and non-commercial science that values and promotes bibliodiversity and multilingualism. Maintaining a robust ecosystem of local and regional scientific communication is
essential for the economic and social development of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Funding agencies and evaluation bodies must recognize that the inappropriate use of bibliometric indicators has systemic effects and can lead to changes in topics of interest, restrictions on the
academic autonomy and the fulfillment of the institutional mission, social impact, creativity and/or innovation.
It is essential that these organizations review their journal ranking and citation-based science evaluation systems and adopt a set of responsible and relevant factors and indicators in accordance with the
national and regional contexts, in collaboration with the community and including the editors of academic/scientific journals.
In that context, we propose the following actions:
1. Re-establish quality criteria, assessing:
● Publications with relevant research regardless of the area or subject matter, language, target audience, or geographical scope;
● Contributions with a broad spectrum of academic and research contributions, such as innovation, replication, translation, synthesis and meta-research;
● Open science practices, such as open access and open data, among others;
● Adoption of high standards of ethics, quality and integrity in scientific publishing.
2. To value and encourage the work of scientific editors and editorial teams, promoting their training and development, and recognizing their fundamental role in the adoption and dissemination of best practices in scientific publishing. To acknowledge the legitimacy of the professionalization of editors and editorial teams.
3. Ensure that national journals and publishers do not lose financial incentives and the flow of manuscript submissions, allowing them to achieve and maintain high standards of quality and integrity in their editorial processes, especially for publications that practice open science and multilingualism.
4. Strengthen, disseminate and protect scientific communication infrastructure such as Latindex, SciELO, RedALyC, LA Referencia, among others, that promote open science, multilingualism and that can generate the responsible metrics and indicators to evaluate local and regional science.
5. To promote and value collaborative networks and exchange among all actors in the knowledge production and dissemination ecosystem: institutions, authors, reviewers and funding agencies, etc., in the region
Background
On October 16 and 17, 2020, the First Uruguayan Congress of Scientific Journals was held in Uruguay, which was sealed with an agreement between the Uruguayan Association of Academic Journals (AURA, https://aura.edu.uy/) and the
Brazilian Association of Scientific Editors (ABEC Brasil, https://www.abecbrasil.org.br) to move forward together towards a LATIN AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF SCIENTIFIC EDITORS.
On November 14, 2020, the Colombian Association of University Presses (ASEUC, https://unilibros.co) received an invitation from CoLaV of the University of Antioquia, organizer of LATmétricas 2021, to participate in the event. Thus,
As ASEUC begins working to achieve participation in this event, LATmétricas invites ABEC Brazil and AURA Uruguay to join.
Finally, on Friday, July 30, 2021, an initial group of leading figures in scientific publishing, representing various Latin American institutions, met virtually to consolidate the proposal.
La Latin American Association of Scientific Editors (ALAEC) As of today, September 15, 2021, it is created as a result of a collective, academic, accessible, open, non-commercial effort for Latin America and the
Caribbean.
Sigmar de Mello Rode (Brazilian Association of Scientific Editors – ABEC Brazil)
Piotr Trzesniak (ABEC Brazil)
Cheap German (ABEC Brazil)
Lorena Ruiz (Association of University Presses of Colombia – ASEUC) Lucía Bernal (ASEUC)
María Alejandra Tejada (ASEUC)
Fernando Piraquive (Center for Scientific Research and Development CIDC – Francisco José de Caldas District University)
Sylvia Piovesan (Uruguayan Association of Academic Journals – AURA)
María del Carmen López Jordi (AURA)
Ana Heredia (Consultant, Brazil)
Eloisa Viggiani (Consultant, Brazil)
Those interested in joining ALAEC should write to [email protected]
