Javier Tarango

Scientific production in Mexican universities Rates and expectations toward competitiveness

This article analyzes emerging issues that Mexican universities are experiencing with scientific production processes, their impact on assessment indicators that determine their level of competitiveness, and the identification of assessment dimensions and criteria related to the activities of professors and researchers. Examples of previous research on universities’ competitiveness are offered to provide suggestions for recognizing the need for legitimized models that allow assessing scientific production in Mexican universities.

Falling behind, failure and drop outs in Mexican public universities: Autonomous University of Chihuahua (Mexico) case

The subject deals with the concepts of falling behind, failure and drop outs as the main indicators to the academic measuring methods in Mexican public universities, complemented by the national proposal to establish institutional tutorial models as the probable solution for the reduction of such indicators. In addition, it includes the outcomes of diagnostic studies performed at the Autonomous University of Chihuahua, Mexico, taking into consideration the outstanding findings about the causes that provoke such problems, and distinguish its behaviour among students coursing educative programs with social approach and its comparison to those related to sciences.

PLS SEM, a quantitative methodology to test theoretical models from library and information science

Structural equation modeling (SEM), with the technique of partial least squares (PLS), can be used for exploratory and predictive evaluations of the causal relationships and impact among variables postulated in theoretical models. This work presents PLS-SEM’s basic notions as a useful methodology to validate the abundance of models in the library and information science field; it offers an example of its application to test a model for measuring the impact of information resources and services on Mexican universities’ academic competitiveness; and it proposes its application to test the Information Needs Model.

An Academic Model to Support Scientific Production and Communication

This chapter proposes a model to support the development of scientific processes in knowledge institutions. This model’s objectives, scope, and methodological issues are defined, as it focuses on strengthening the generation of the scientific productivity environment, which will enable the successful generation of scientific production, communication, and dissemination. It explains five organizational structures that are proposed as alternatives to implement this model in knowledge institutions: mutual collaboration, direct supervision, standardization of working processes, standardization of working products, standardization of competences and knowledge, and the development of an integral model. The basic services that an institutional department or unit based upon the model proposed are analyzed, these include: information needs diagnostics; searching for information sources; identification of information sources for scientific communication and dissemination; editing and preparing manuscripts for publication; data transcription, preparation, processing and analysis; translation of scientific documents; information metrics studies; user satisfaction analysis; and training programs.

The New Profile of Information Professionals as Scientific Production and Communication Managers: Identification of Competences

This chapter presents the competences that information professionals must develop in their practice within and outside libraries if they work as scientific production and communication agents, as it represents one innovative alternative that widens their career profile. Such competences are relevant for the information professionals that develop activities related to scientific production and communication management in knowledge institutions. It includes topics related with general scientific competences, identifying and defining four categories of basic competences: information, linguistic, communication, and digital.

Conceptualization of Scientific Productivity, Production, Dissemination, and Communication

This chapter identifies the importance of knowledge generation processes and the role they play in the institutions generating science, mainly universities and research institutes. It also defines the main concepts related to scientific research and knowledge generation: scientific productivity, scientific production, academic production, scientific communication, and scientific dissemination. The meanings of such concepts are clarified, since an indiscriminate disparity is often observed regarding their use in the specialized literature, as each concept has its own implications. These concepts are classified given their importance in the measurement of knowledge and science, and the various types of valid scientific products resulting from knowledge generation are defined.

Scientific Production in the Knowledge Economy and its Influence on the Competitiveness of Universities and Research Institutions

The knowledge economy (KE) is a topic widely applied to various institutional and social sectors, hence it is challenging to implement it efficiently and equitably at a macrolevel, both from the perspectives of assessing its influence and of measuring its impact. This chapter focuses on the study of the KE in relation to scientific production and scientific communication, considering KE’s contribution for identifying competitiveness indicators in universities and research institutions through the improvement of intellectual and social capital levels. The basic aspects considered are objectified knowledge, the consequences of various environments, and knowledge processes; all of which will manifest in the published scientific products that result from the scientific communication of an institution.

The challenges of scientific journalism according to Mexican university professors, newspaper directors and heads of research

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to determine the challenges of scientific literacy that scientific journalism can promote or suppress as a scientific dissemination activity. To ensure that universities transfer knowledge to society, this vital activity is studied from the perspectives of their stakeholders: professors, researchers, newspaper directors and heads of research areas of two Mexican universities. Design/methodology/approach From a participatory action research perspective that consisted in applying semi-structured interviews, this study was conducted in two public universities in Chihuahua, Mexico. The group of participants constituted of a random sample of 90 Mexican professors, taken from a population of 246 subjects with the status of national researchers (confidence level = 95 per cent; margin of error = 5 per cent; P/Q correlation = 90 / 10 per cent), in addition to six local newspaper executives and eight research managers at participating universities. Findings Evidence suggests that scientific dissemination has a low social impact, its recognition by universities and scientific evaluation institutions is limited, and the act of making scientific content accessible to the general public is highly complex, especially when it comes to content related to the exact sciences. These results are predictable under the complex models that evaluate scientific production, because the measurement indicators that define scientific competitiveness levels prioritize specific scientific products other than dissemination products such as newspaper articles. Research limitations/implications Data were collected from two Mexican public universities under the implication that the behavior identified through data analysis can occur in other similar environments. Although a participatory action research perspective was assumed, and because this research of a projective nature can be a part of a larger research, no particular actions or interventions were planned or executed, apart from the interviews that aimed to collect data that emerged from participants’ own practice and experiences on the issues studied. Further research can consist of developing forward-looking actions that can contribute to the development of scientific literacy, as well as to the exploration and solution of the issues identified through participants’ own practice. Originality/value One of the social roles of universities is to ensure that scientific knowledge reaches all citizens. However, there are not sufficient studies regarding scientific dissemination, especially from the perspective of professors as generators of scientific knowledge, newspaper directors and heads of research areas.

Latin American triple-A journals 1: A quality roadmap from the quality indicators and journals’ presence in Web of Science and Scopus

The current presence of Latin American journals in Web of Science and Scopus is analyzed, as the first part of a quality roadmap intended to strengthen regional publications, especially those that have started as institutional publications. The next issue will study the quality requirements and journals’ presence in other recognized indexes and platforms such as Scimago Journal and Country Rank, the Directory of Open Access Journals, Latindex, SciELO, and RedALyC.

2.14 Mexico. Academic Libraries in Mexico with an Emphasis on the Use of Technology in Mexican State University Libraries

The results of an information technology adoption survey are presented in this paper. The population, studied through a written questionnaire and when needed, through a telephone interview, was all the 40 Mexican state university library systems. The study was focused on the use of technology for information management and promotion of library services. It included four main aspects: 1) Library management software, 2) Virtual information services, that is search engines, electronic resources management, virtual reference services and digital document repositories; 3) Computer staff and computers for library users; and 4) Use of social networks as collaborative and communication tools for library services promotion. An analysis of performance indicators based on university size identifies strengths and weaknesses in these four components. Key Terms: Library technology – Library management software – Virtual information services – Social networks – State Mexican universities *Student assistants: Sergio Gómez-Vinales, and Ivan Ruiz