Science, academic communication and dissemination to broad audiences: a multi-dimensional phenomenon [CFP Sept. 15 th. 2022]

Clic to go to the journal (English web page in lateral navigation)

MONOGRAPHIC
Science, academic communication and dissemination to broad audiences: a multi-dimensional phenomenon

  • Deadline for Submissions: September 15th, 2022.
  • Publishing Date:  January 15th, 2023.

INFORMATION

Science and communication are a multi-dimensional couple, not always well understood, and which requires constant, wide-ranging, and the most diverse and complete review possible due to its crucial effects on both academia and society.

On one hand, we have the dimension called Scholarly Communication. This refers to the study of the way in which academics communicate their results. It is a constant reality in any discipline, but it is rarely reflected on. However, we need to know as well as possible its characteristics and its constant evolutions. In the case of social communication, we need to know how and why researchers in our discipline communicate their results.

The cartography of the main scientific publications and journals in social communication, or which are the most important sources of information for researchers in our field. Or also what are the main vectors for communicating results in our field and why: scientific articles? Books? Communications at conferences? Likewise, aspects such as open science, and its epiphenomena, such as article processing charges (APC) or open forms of evaluation also need to be considered and reviewed.

On the other hand, communicating science to society to wide and diverse audiences is a great challenge for communication sciences that is becoming increasingly evident, among other reasons, because it is a requirement of the organizations that finance science. This is financed mainly with public funds. Therefore, it should assume the inherent responsibility of returning advances to society, both in terms of scientific results and in the transfer of new knowledge and science-based concepts.

Communicating science effectively to wide audiences is not easy and surely requires a science of science communication that should be an instrument of help to academics and scientists who, in any case, need to incorporate communication into their professional skills.

The scientific component of the information becomes relevant in the face of problems that have affected society, such as the social management of the recent pandemic, the sustainability of the planet, or the fight against misinformation, among others, which require that academia and the science have a connection with society, sometimes direct, and sometimes mediated by media professionals.

In this issue we propose to address the different dimensions and challenges of communicating scientific content to specialized audiences (scholarly communication) to improve science itself, or to communicate it to broad audiences, in this case to achieve a more informed society, improve scientific literacy and help to combat misinformation, among other multiple needs.

We hope that this broad vision of the relationship between science and communication allows us to analyze the role of academic journals in open science in the 21st century, but also of the functions and practices of the media, in the broad sense including social networks. As well as the new formats that allow content to be communicated to society.

RESEARCH LINES:

  • Characteristics of academic production in social communication. As well as its forms of transfer. Main publications and media such as congresses or others.
  • Characteristics of social communication in academic-scientific information systems, such as academic databases or search engines. Main information systems for researchers in social communication.
  • Research in social communication and the new challenges and realities of open science.
  • The effective communication of science to wide audiences and its important social challenges: tools, models, and metrics.
  • The social responsibility of science communication as a requirement of accountability for research financed with public funds.
  • The science of science communication: its procedures, cases, and main challenges. Traditional media and new formats to communicate scientific content to society.
  • Visibility of scientific production and academic SEO. Impact metrics, altmetrics and social networks and their role in the dissemination of scientific content. Policies to increase the impact of academic-scientific publications at various levels: author, research group, university, etc.

Monographic Coordinators