Presence and impact of Andean universities in online social networks
- Authors
- Campos Freire, Francisco Manuel
- Format
- Article
- Status
- publishedVersion
- Description
Introduction. This research study examines the presence and impact of the 165 universities that are part of the four Andean countries (Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia) on the most important online research networks (Researchgate.net and Academia.edu), in order to establish the degree of use and penetration of these new tools that enable scientific communication, collaboration and interaction, and incorporate alternative scientific reputation evaluation systems that expand the traditional the visible and invisible colleges of science. Method. The study is based on quantitative and qualitative research techniques and social networks analysis (SNA). Results. The presence and impact of the Andean universities in the online research networks is heterogeneous, but generally emerging and growing, and still divergent in terms of reputation in comparison to the results achieved in other international university rankings of long-standing tradition. Discussion and conclusions. The online research networks and their techno-social tools (Web 2.0 and 3.0) are convergent digital ecosystems of software services, repositories and open and networked communication platforms that allow researchers: to share their academic and professional profile within a specific area of knowledge dissemination and exchange; to create lists of users related within one or more scientific disciplines in order to be able to monitor them, and share information contacts, projects, documents, notes, collaborations and research studies with them; to create scientific networks; to access and download references and scientific works available online; and to calculate and monitor the qualitative and quantitative value (scientific social capital), popularity and impact of their own and others' citations, interactions and publications. The results of the metrics used by these new research networks are moderately similar to those provided by the major university and scientific evaluation systems, but are still inadequate to measure research institutions in developing non-Anglo-Saxon countries. The challenge of the universities from developing countries and the new online research networks -launched after 2007-- is to manage the efficiency and recognition of their scientific reputation.
http://www.revistalatinacs.org/069/paper/1025_USC/RLCS_paper1025en.pdf
- Publication Year
- 2014
- Language
- eng
- Topic
- ONLINE RESEARCH NETWORKS
SOCIAL CAPITAL
RANKINGS
REPUTATION
SCIENTIFIC COLLABORATION
INVISIBLE COLLEGES
- Repository
- Repositorio SENESCYT
- Rights
- openAccess
- License
- openAccess