Scientific Communication between Spanish and English Educational Technology Journals. A Citation Analysis of eight Journals

Abstract

In order to disseminate the findings and recommendations from their studies, researchers publish papers in scientific journals in their subject area. Research communities thus emerge as a result of the communication between authors who cite other relevant papers. This study focuses on the relationships between Spanish and English research communities in the specific field of Educational Technology. We explore as hypotheses whether there are signs of scientific journal communication between authors in these two communities, and if the English authors reciprocate citations by Spanish authors. In order to verify them, a social network analysis was conducted by considering outgoing and incoming citations in eight open access journals (four in English and four in Spanish) published over ten years (2007-2016). The sample includes 3,407 articles, which were analysed using UCINET and Gephi software. The results show partial confirmation of the hypotheses, since two separate research communities were recognized, with almost no communication between them. However, the Spanish community was presented as more connected than the English one. We interpret these results by considering not only language factors, but also the journal roots and the particular subject field under consideration. Finally, we highlight some general recommendations to enhance future communication between these two education research communities.

Invisible borders in educational technology research? A comparative analysis

“…As previously argued, research in the field of EdTech does reflect different research interests in relation to the varying research traditions within Germany, Spain and the UK, despite being published in the English language. Also, different topical clusters were identified for the three countries, which also confirms previous findings (Marín & Zawacki-Richter, 2019 ). In spite of the fact that English is considered the lingua franca of research across most scientific disciplines, linguistically defined communities and publication structures play an important role in the dissemination of knowledge (Beigel, 2021 ).…”

“…Therefore, in this article we argue that, despite publishing in the same English-language journals, EdTech researchers from different countries continue to pursue distinct research topics and ground them in different theoretical backgrounds, leading to country-specific topical clusters, as previous research tentatively suggests (e.g., for the context of Spain, see Marín & Zawacki-Richter, 2019). This translates into questions about what topics researchers from different countries focus on and which terminology they use to describe their research.…”

“…Differences in the research interests between the two Spanish sub-communities are also present (e.g., Rodríguez-Miranda & Bolaños, 2018 ). In addition, in previous research in EdTech journals in English and Spanish language, two different communities with reduced communication among them were acknowledged (Marín & Zawacki-Richter, 2019 ). This has an important effect on the terminology used in the field, which may include literal translations that do not reflect the same meanings (Castañeda et al, 2020 ), and missing terms in the internationally visible discourse that are more present in the Spanish-language outlets and the respective community–with their scientific discourse routed in the Tecnología Educativa community.…”

International Collaboration in the Field of Educational Research: A Delphi Study

“…The study found that, whilst Spanish authors cite papers in English language journals, English language studies do not cite studies from Spanish journals, even when published in English. Marín and Zawacki-Richter (2019) also found that the Spanish research community seems to be more tightly connected, interacting and collaborating amongst themselves, particularly through conferences and social networks.…”

“…Another method of analysing international collaboration and communication is through citation analysis. A study by Marín and Zawacki-Richter (2019) investigated the relationships between Spanish and English-speaking educational technology research communities, through a social network analysis of research published in eight open access journals (3,407 articles). The study found that, whilst Spanish authors cite papers in English language journals, English language studies do not cite studies from Spanish journals, even when published in English.…”