The Latin American Forum on Scientific Evaluation (FOLEC-CLACSO) is a space for debate on the meanings, policies, and practices of scientific evaluation processes in the region. From an open, collaborative, and publicly accessible perspective, it seeks to strengthen democratizing and sustainable approaches and models of science, committed to addressing the challenges facing our societies.
The formal start of this initiative was in November 2019 in Mexico City, starting with the realization of the First Latin American Seminar on Scientific EvaluationThe event, co-organized by CLACSO and the National Council of Science and Technology (Conacyt, Mexico), brought together experts from the region, representatives of National Science and Technology Organizations, and CLACSO Member Centers to analyze the processes of evaluating scientific work and generate proposals from Latin America and the Caribbean, in dialogue with international trends and best practices.
In 2020, FOLEC-CLACSO developed a stage of diagnosis, proposals y guiding principles in relation to the processes and meanings of academic assessment reform in the region, as reflected in various working documents, meetings, and activities. In 2021, a Second Latin American Forum on Scientific Evaluation (FOLEC), co-organized between CLACSO and the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET, Argentina), within the framework of the III Open Forum of Sciences Latin America and the Caribbean, CILAC 2020-2021, in dialogue with the Agenda for Sustainable Development 2030.
Over the years, CLACSO-FOLEC has developed various mobilization activities aimed at creating a common agenda, with a high level of consensus, on the challenges facing evaluation policies. In partnership with researchers, specialists, and leading experts in the field, it has also produced several diagnostic and policy documents, policy summaries, and research project results that have provided tools to strengthen different components of responsible academic evaluation in the region, in line with international trends in Open Science. For its numerous initiatives, CLACSO-FOLEC has been recognized as one of the top 15 international mobilizers and definers of responsible research evaluation and one of the top 10 websites and resources on the topic, according to the Global Research Council (GRC) report. Since 2022, it has been a member of the Executive Board of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA). Likewise, CLACSO-FOLEC has been called upon by the International Council for Science, UNESCO, Inter-Academy Partnership, and Global Young Academies to integrate international working groups that develop international guidelines for scientific evaluation in times of open science.
At the 9th Latin American and Caribbean Conference of Social Sciences, CLACSO co-organized, with the support of Conacyt, a Third International Seminar of the Latin American Forum for Scientific Evaluation (FOLEC)The conference, entitled “Academic Evaluation in Times of Open, Inclusive, and Relevant Science: Cultural, Cognitive, and Political-Institutional Challenges for the Production, Circulation, and Indexing of Knowledge in Latin America and the Caribbean. Towards a Proactive, Multi-Stakeholder, and Regional-Global Agenda of Evaluation Policies and Practices,” took place on June 9 and 10 at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Fifteen activities were held there, including roundtables, panels, and lectures, with the participation of more than 55 regional and international specialists, experts, and activists. Within this framework, the XXVII Ordinary General Assembly of the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO) approved Declaration of Principles and Proposals, which was also agreed upon with the participants of the Plenary of the International Seminar of the Latin American Forum for Scientific Evaluation (FOLEC).
Currently, CLACSO-FOLEC has managed to strengthen the exchange and sustained work, together with the National Science and Technology Organizations and other associated university and scientific institutions at the regional and international level, in order to advance in the recommendation, follow-up and monitoring of processes for improving academic evaluation systems and in supporting and collaborating with the substantive transformation of evaluation practices and the research culture in the countries of the region.
Latin American Council of Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities
Executive Secretary
United States 1168 | C1101AAX | City of Buenos Aires, Argentina
Tel. [54 11] 4304 9145 | [email protected] | clacso.org
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