Abstract
Communication flow of scientific information has been restructured with the development of new technologies and the Internet and their impact on social relations worldwide. The production of scientific knowledge has also been influenced by these cultural, social and economic changes and has contributed to new patterns of scientific communication. The objective of the study was to present the traditional scientific communication model and its evolution to electronic scientific communication stimulated by the use of electronic media and Internet and networking. While the traditional model is based on printed publications, the new one focuses on electronic publishing and open unlimited access to published literature. The challenges faced are in using all the potential of electronic media for improving traditional communication flow of scientific information and defining policies to support the new model of scientific communication to ensure quality, preservation and dissemination of information as a common good.
Highlights
Scientific communication flow comprises formal publication of research findings, information retrieval, access to published literature as well as informal communication and information exchange between researchers. It is a continuous flow as knowledge published and assimilated generates new knowledge, research and publications, ruled by a particular dynamics and influenced by social relations
The present study describes and discusses the evolution of the traditional communication flow of scientific information and its transformation by the use of electronic media and the Internet
The U.S National Institutes of Health (NIH) created the Information Exchange Group to promote direct contact between researchers and exchange of reprints of articles not published by the formal scientific communication system. This initiative was terminated a couple of years later due to pressure from the publishing industry.* This initiative is regarded as the precursor of open repositories implemented only after the advent of the Internet
Summary
Scientific communication flow comprises formal publication of research findings, information retrieval, access to published literature as well as informal communication and information exchange between researchers. Pellegrini Filho[10] (2000) divides scientific activity into three basic processes: knowledge production (research), circulation and incorporation The author emphasizes these processes “are immersed in a social totality influenced by them; on the other hand, these processes are mostly influenced through mediating instances such as financing, human resources training, legitimation, law and regulations, information dissemination and communication channels, health system structure, etc.”. With the advent of the Internet and the development of new technologies, social relations have changed and scientific communication flow has been restructured. Castells[2] says the Internet and the web have brought about social changes creating a society in which information can be produced and stored in different spaces and accessed by users from a distance, facilitating research development and work through collaboration networks.
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