Research Information:FOCUS ON LATIN AMERICA
Time to invest in Latin America?
Despite the fact that the continent is considered a single block, there are huge inequalities among its countries, says Alvaro Bussab
B
razil plays the main role in the region, responsible for 63 per cent of the region’s science and technology investments (totalling $44 billion across the continent in 2011) and a similar proportion of published articles. Being the only Portuguese-speaking country in the region also highlights the discrepancies of a block that includes countries with not even a single journal being published regularly. Despite these disparities, there are some shared aspects that can be identified.
Consortia
Starting in 2000 with the Brazilian initiative CAPES Periódicos and followed by Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and, more recently (2011), Mexico, these bigger countries negotiate consortia-like contracts with global publishers on a governmental basis. Brazil spends $99m per year on its CAPES Periódicos Portal, including 37,000 journal titles, 126 reference databases and 10 patent databases. Mexico spent $71.6m on its Conricyt in 2014. Argentina (BECT), Chile (BEIC) and Uruguay (Timbó) – the other consortia – collectively invest $33.5m per year. Such initiatives give local researchers access not just to cutting-edge research content but also local interest content that is eventually published abroad.
Open access
Back in 1997, Latin America’s science, once diagnosed as ‘The Lost Science’ for its endogeny and regional interest, received the help of SciELO’s successful initiative to change this scenario gradually. The SciELO platform began – and is still maintained and developed – in Sao Paulo, Brazil, aiming to increase the visibility and quality of Latin American published science. Other initiatives,
such as RedAlyc (Mexico) and smaller local universities’ or countries’ repositories, all make Gold Open Access a natural rule of thumb for the region’s adopted business model. An interesting trend can be detected in this business model, as it slowly changes from fully institutional funding to APC and, in most cases, to a hybrid-funding model, as traditional APC prices of $800 to $2,500 USD are not acceptable to the majority of authors.
Local industries and global players
Journals are usually supported by societies or public institutions. There are no relevant local private publishers, but the local service providers’ industry is roughly consolidated to support those journals’ needs. Very recently, mainstream publishers have assessed this ‘new market’, maybe because all other global regions have already been explored. Local authorities and public publishers advocating open access still look unfavourably at these mainstream publishers’
Very recently, mainstream publishers have assessed this ‘new market’
interest in local journals, fearing that, at some point, they may regress into paid subscription. Other international companies arriving in Latin America’s market are technology and service providers from around the globe. American Journal Experts realised that its language services were key to Spanish- or Portuguese-speaking authors submitting their papers, either abroad or to the ever-growing number of local journals adopting English. Other global academic editing service providers, like Editage and Crimson (Enago/
22 Research Information DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016
Ulatus), followed AJE, investing in local marketing, knowledge and support. The same can be seen with another SpringerNature partner, the Japanese language-editing provider Edanz. Other service providers offering broader publishing services, such as UK’s Charlesworth Group and the American giant Cenveo, have also started investigating the local market and partnerships for on-the-ground support and local knowledge.
Language
Language is not just a market opportunity in Latin America – it is a dilemma shared by most stakeholders in the STM business. Apart from being adopted as the language of science since the end of the Second World War, English is not as unanimous or dominant in the Latin community as it is in other regions. Spanish is the language spoken by 66 per cent of its population, and Portuguese-speaking readers also tend to prefer Spanish over English. In addition 50 per cent of published science concerns the social sciences – traditionally difficult to translate – and the other half are heavily formed by local, related subjects.
Summing up
It is evident that shared challenges and characteristics have been addressed successfully by local solutions, and that much more is under discussion and development by multi-national agencies. However, it is also clear that to reach world- class standards, and keep pace with the rapidly changing publishing scenario, Latin America must also absorb leading technologies and services, as well as adopt professional-grade publishing practices.
These initiatives obviously require a compatible level of investment by funding agencies, and a bold strategy from both local clients and international companies.
Alvaro Bussab runs Caboverde, a Sao Paulo- based service provider with clients in many Latin American countries, South Africa and Spain. He also collaborates on migrating journals from paper to a semantic and collaborative science.
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