Making science international: Chilean journals and communities in the world of science

Abstract

Drawing on the evolution of socio-geographical imaginaries of scholarly journals published in Chile, this article provides a picture of the socio-historical trajectories of internationalization of scholarly journals and communities in that part of the (semi-)periphery of science. In order to break with the presentism of many contemporary discussions, the analysis covers a relatively long period of time, from the end of the nineteenth century until the first decades of the twenty-first century. However, based on an inductive analysis of the journals, the article particularly focuses on the rise of nationalist and regionalist orientations in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and the intensification of the pressures for internationalization in more recent decades. Building on the findings, the article concludes highlighting key elements and making some general observations on the internationalization processes in the semi-periphery of science.

Journal editors and journal indexes: Internationalization pressures in the semi‐periphery of the world of science

“…The interviews and analyses took place between 2016 and 2019. These interviews were part of a bigger project, the results of which also appear in some other publications (Koch, Vanderstraeten & Ayala, 2021;Koch, Blanco, & Ayala, 2021;Koch & Vanderstraeten, 2019). Of the 12 interviews reported here, 4 were conducted between December 2016 and January 2017, and 8 between December 2018 and January 2019.…”

“…A remaining question, however, is whether there is one best representation of the world of science. The different databases may also be seen to stand for different, competing imaginaries of the future of scientific publishing and scholarship itself (Koch, Vanderstraeten & Ayala, 2021). When given more visibility and recognition, regional databases and other, recently developed instruments to measure scientific impact (e.g., Altmetrics) may draw attention to alternative imaginaries.…”

Ecology of knowledges and languages in Latin American academic production

“…Regarding the role of English in the internationalization process, Koch, Vanderstraeten and Ayala (2020) suggest that translation flows into other languages tend to reproduce (rather than correct) the unequal distribution observed in geographic/bibliometric analyses. The number of books translated to and from English is evidence of this (SWAAN, 2001).…”

“…3 Scopus and the Global South Koch et al (2020) analyzed the internalization trajectories of academic journals in Chile showing a rise of nationalist/regionalist orientations in the late 19 th and early 20 th centuries and intensification of internationalization thereafter. Using scientometric techniques, they showed that global research production is still concentrated in a relatively small number of nations.…”

Debates on Global Sociology: ‘Unity and Diversity’ of Interpretations

“…Connell, 2007; see also Sklair, 2013). But while empirical tests of the globalization of different aspect of publishing formats in sociology have seen the light of day (Beigel, 2014;Collyer, 2018;Jacobs & Mizrachi, 2020;Koch et al, 2020;Koch & Vanderstraeten, 2019;Vanderstraeten & Eykens, 2018), hitherto systematic sociological-historical reflections on the particulars of the debate on global sociology do not exist (see also Abbott, 2020). 1 The official histories of these associations focus for the largest part on their aims and social structures, not on the roles they actually play in the internationalization processes (see Platt, 1998;Rhoades, 1981;Schuerkens, 1996).…”