Abstract

Scientific social networks are a new meeting place for researchers and a major instrument for the promotion of knowledge. Their use is increasing in the scientific community, as they are practical tools to disseminate research results and to share knowledge. This paper examines the presence of 77 Spanish universities in the two main scientific social networks (ResearchGate and Academia.edu). The results show that, despite the continuous development that those networks are having worldwide, the number of Spanish members in them is considered insufficient and in some universities is almost anecdotal. These results should be the starting point for an action program of the universities to increase the membership of their academic staff in those networks, as part of their mission of disseminating knowledge.

Abstract

Institutional offices for the communication and dissemination of science are gaining in importance at Spanish universities, and their activities can contribute to increasing the visibility and reputation of researchers. The objective of this study is to analyze the relations between the institutional communication of research results to the public and the impact and academic visibility of scientific papers. For this purpose, science communication and dissemination undertaken through press releases on R+D+i results from the Science Culture and Innovation Unit (SCIU) at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) were selected as a case study. This SCIU was chosen because it has published yearly reports for more than a decade on the impact in the media of its press releases. Press dossiers of the last five years available (2014-2018) were examined, and a database was created of the citations received by texts published in scientific journals indexed in the Web of Science as well as their mentions on social networks through the company Altmetric.com. After that, this information was statistically analyzed. The main results show that the journal impact index is important for obtaining academic citations or appearing in Twitter conversations. However, the influence of the journal impact factor turns out to be lower when it comes to popularizing scientific publications in the media. Furthermore, the statistical evidence points to the fact that scientific publications disseminated through the SCIU receive proportionally more citations than research that has not been disseminated through the institutional channel.

Abstract

Technological transformations and, especially, the accelerated process of digitalization have changed the profiles and production routines of the media. At the same time, universities have had to adapt their journalism curricula to new training needs. This paper analyzes the evolution of the technical-digital training of the journalism degree in Spain over the last two decades through a comparative study of three stages: before, during, and after the adaptation to the EHEA (2000-2010-2020). The research brings together, as valuable reference material, the curricular offerings of 112 programs and 242 subjects that show the educational evolution of the digital environment over the last 20 years , with a longitudinal and epistemological approach. The trends identified by this diagnostic work confirm, among other aspects, how the design of journalism curricula has evolved at a slow and asynchronous pace in digital training until the last decade and with disparate speeds between universities. Added to this is the conformation of a highly varied epistemological heritage that, beyond the specific names of the subjects, denotes a progressive commitment to digital and multimedia teaching, combining generic hybrid knowledge with more specialized training in terms of languages and formats.