Latin American Science Research Articles

Discussing plagiarism in Latin American science

Most developed countries have extensive guidelines about research integrity, which reflects a global attempt to harmonize policies for handling research misconduct. For the editors and readers of English‐language international journals, the question of plagiarism is of particular concern. Here, we look at the perception of plagiarism among Brazilian scientists. Our results suggest that the concept of plagiarism itself is not clear: although our participants unanimously regarded the use of the ideas and data of other researchers as wrong, they had mixed opinions about using passages of text. We also found that plagiarism is a sensitive issue, which is not yet appropriately addressed by formal institutional guidelines in all Latin American countries. > …although our participants unanimously regarded the use of the ideas and data of other researchers as wrong, they had mixed opinions about using passages of text Several countries, especially in Western Europe and the USA, have been paying increasing attention to research misconduct. The US Office of Research Integrity (ORI; Rockville, MD, USA), created in 1992, and the UK Research Integrity Office, created in 2006, are just two of several initiatives addressing this problem. In the USA, increased governmental scrutiny during the 1980s and 1990s led to congressional hearings and federal policies to foster research integrity (Dingell, 1993). In 1999, the US Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP; Washington, DC, USA) determined that fabrication, falsification and plagiarism (FFP) should be the main focus of investigations into allegations of research misconduct (OSTP, 1999). According to the OSTP definition, fabrication is “making up data or results and recording or reporting them”; falsification is “manipulating research materials, equipment, or processes, or changing or omitting data or results such that the research is not accurately represented in the research record”; and plagiarism is “the appropriation of another person's ideas, processes, results, …

Perceptions of Latin American scientists about science and post-graduate education: Introduction to the 5th issue of CBP-Latin America

Although science and engineering (S&E) publications and doctoral degree awards in Latin America had experienced an impressive growth in the past decades, a qualitative evaluation of this increased output must be performed. Previous studies have indicated that growth in visibility of Latin American science – determined by ratio of citations per paper – has not kept pace with the increase in number of publications. In the present editorial, we analyzed – by means of a 12-item questionnaire – the individual perceptions of forty senior researchers involved in CBP-Latin America (29 Brazilians and 11 non-Brazilians) plus a special group composed by six extraordinary Latin American scientists (the “masters”). The questionnaire – using 6-point Likert-like scale for quantification of perception – focused on issues surrounding doctoral educational system as well as the governmental educational policies and publication pressure from funding agencies. In general, the most striking result was the perception (by 82% of respondents) of lack of job opportunities for people holding a PhD diploma in the field of comparative biochemistry and physiology. Other major trends include (i) lack of satisfaction with governmental policies for science and post-graduate education due to policies promoting mass production for papers and PhD diplomas (65–77% of respondents felt that way) (ii) that current PhD students are doing an adequate job, but have not improved in quality as compared to those from 10 years ago (the same was observed for PhD thesis in terms of present versus past), and (iii) that research infrastructure and the curricula of post-graduate courses do not constitute a problem, but (iv) recent-PhDs are not as fit as they should be in paper-writing skills, especially as perceived by Brazilian respondents. The general perceptions were very similar among Brazilians, non-Brazilians and “masters”. The use of a larger study-population, with scientists of more diverse fields is the next logical step to best evaluate the level of satisfaction about science and post-graduate policies in the continent. Finally, this fifth and last special issue of CBP-Latin America celebrates the contribution of 20 new manuscripts, which adds up to 118 published studies highlighting the depth, breadth and enthusiasm of Latin American comparative biochemistry and physiology — enjoy.

Igualdad y equidad en Ciencia y Tecnología en Iberoamérica

This study introduces the paper of this issue entitled, Equality and Equity in Latin American Science and Technology. The articles involved analyze the mechanisms through which gender discrimination operates in the institutionalization and professiolnalization of science and technology in some Latin American countries. In spite of the diversity of countries, institutions, disciplines and focuses, all the works coincice in their interest to account women’s exclusion, their motives and the strategies that would allow increasing women presence in order to achieve a full equity and equality in science and technology. The articles presented offer an unique overview of the situation of women in science and technology in those countries and several scientific and technological areas.

Traveling Feminist Thought: Difference and Transculturation in Central and Eastern European Feminism

Traveling Feminist Thought: Difference and Transculturation in Central and Eastern European Feminism

South of the future: an overview of Latin American science fiction cinema

This article introduces the main trends in Latin American science fiction cinema. Focusing on the films produced in Mexico, Brazil and Argentina (the countries with the largest film industries in the region), it offers a descriptive analysis of the central characteristics of these works and argues that Latin American sf films make use of the narrative and iconographic conventions of American sf, articulating them with local and regional cultural elements and traditions. It concludes by offering some notes toward how the concept of hybridity might be useful for further the study of this cinema.

A política científica e tecnológica brasileira: três enfoques teóricos, três projetos políticos

A matriz analítico-conceitual que marcou a política científica etecnológica após a 2a Guerra Mundial está associada à concepção linear darelação entre ciência, tecnologia e desenvolvimento. Ainda hoje, essa concepçãomantém sua força dentro da esfera da política científica e tecnológica.Existem, contudo, três enfoques que se propõem a questionar essa visão: oenfoque evolucionário (comumente tido como o único enfoque crítico), o pensamentolatino-americano em ciência, tecnologia e sociedade (PLACTS) e oque aqui chamamos de visão alternativa. O trabalho se propõe a analisarbrevemente cada um desses enfoques estilizados, estabelecendo algumas conexõesentre essas diferentes visões da relação ciência-tecnologia-desenvolvimentoe projetos políticos igualmente distintos.

Latin American Science Moves into the Spotlight

With new incentives, some governments in Latin America are starting to increase investment in basic and applied research. Although the news is encouraging, scientists in this region still face many challenges ahead.

The relevance and recognition of Latin American science. Introduction to the fourth issue of CBP-Latin America

Although the number of science and engineering (S&E) publications produced in Latin America grew exponentially over the past 15 years, the investment in science and the number of full time researchers did not grow at a comparable rate. Moreover, Latin American science is handicapped by constrained resources and access to information, higher costs of research, English-language barriers and brain-drain. One possible explanation for the observed rise in paper numbers, therefore, is that Latin American scientists have increased production, perhaps at the cost of quality. As an alternative, Latin America authors may have increased production while maintaining quality (e.g., through creativity, intense work and enhancement of international cooperation). Our aim is to verify which of these interpretations best applies for the field of comparative biochemistry and physiology (CBP). To achieve this goal, we compared the impact indicators of two randomly selected samples of authors (n=20; all with 8 to 30 years of scientific production), one from Latin America and another from developed countries. For additional comparison, we included also a group of twelve highly cited and recognized CBP researchers. We used Hirsch's indexes (h and m) as main indicators of performance, but compared also classical bibliometric indexes such as total number of citations, total number of papers and the ratio of citation per paper (CpP). The mean of most indexes were not significantly different between the two groups of regular CBP researchers, except for CpP, which was 1.7-fold higher in authors from developed countries. As expected, both groups had mean indicators well below those from the sample of highly cited researchers (average h values for top and regular CBP researchers were 37.3±3.0 and 11.4±0.9, respectively). Considering that Hirsch's indexes are more suitable indicators of performance than CpP, we conclude that Latin American CBP researchers, despite handicaps, perform similarly to those in developed countries. The forth special issue of Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology (“The Face of Latin American Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology”) celebrates, with 24 new manuscripts from Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Chile, the diversity of biological science in Latin America.

Whither Latin America? trends and challenges of science in Latin America

Science in Latin America has experienced vigorous growth in the past decade, as demonstrated by the fact that the Latin American share of the world's scientific publications increased from 1.8% in 1991-1995 to 3.4% in 1999-2003. Significant growth has also taken place in the numbers of PhDs in science and engineering (S&E) awarded in Latin American countries in recent years, including those in the natural sciences. Importantly, albeit at different rates, growth has been verified in almost all countries in the region, indicating a general effort to promote the development of S&E. In most research fields, however, the recognition or relative impact of Latin American science, as measured by the average number of citations received by published articles (CpP), is still below world averages and much lower than in developed nations. We show that average CpP values for a set of 34 representative developing and developed countries correlate significantly with gross expenditure in research and development (GERD), with gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and with the number of researchers per million inhabitants (RpM). Among those countries, Latin American nations present some of the lowest average values of CpP (<6), GERD (< or =1% of GDP) and RpM (<2,000). We also examined recent trends in scientific activity in Latin America, with focus on the natural sciences and on biochemistry and molecular biology (BMB). In terms of citation scores, publications in BMB compare favorably to those in other research fields within Latin America. At the same time, however, Latin American BMB is one of the areas for which relative impact--compared to developed nations or normalized to world averages--is lowest. These observations clearly indicate the need to establish effective policies to increase competitiveness in terms of the quality and international recognition of Latin American natural sciences in general, and BMB in particular, as opposed to merely increasing the absolute numbers of publications or the numbers of PhDs awarded in the region.

The cost of Latin American science

Latin American researchers in science and engineering (S&E), including those in biology and biomedical sciences, are frequently exposed to unstable conditions of financial support, material and human resources, and a limited number of positions at public and private institutions. Such uncertainties impose continuous challenges for the scientific community which, in the best of cases, responds with careful planning and creativity, and in the worst scenario endures the migration of scientists to the USA or Europe. Still, the number of scientific publications from Latin American institutions in the last decade increased at a much faster rate than publications from the USA and Canada. A brief analysis per country of the gross domestic product (GDP) spent in research and development (R&D) and the S&E production reported by the Pascal bibliographic database suggests that the number and quality of S&E publications is directly proportional to the financial support for R&D. However, the investment in R&D in Latin America did not increase at the same rate (from 0.49 to 0.55% of GDP, from 1990 to 2003) at which S&E publications did in the same period (2.9-fold increase, from 1988 to 2001). In Latin America, the traditional financial support for scientific research continues to be from federal and state government funds, associated in some cases with institutional funds that are mostly directed towards administrative costs and infrastructure maintenance. The aim of this introduction is to briefly discuss the production cost of articles published in refereed S&E journals, including the cost of the scientific research behind them, and, at the same time, to increase the awareness of the high quality of scientific research in Latin American institutions despite the many challenges, especially financial constraints, faced by their scientists. The second issue of Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology dedicated to Latin America ("The Face of Latin American Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology") celebrates, by means of 26 manuscripts from five countries, the diversity and quality of biological science in the continent.

Latin American science fiction writers: an A-to-Z guide

Preface Introduction by Darrell B. Lockhart The Sourcebook Latin American Science Fiction: A Bibliograhy of Literary Anthologies and Criticism Index About the Editor and Contributors

Why Has Critique Run out of Steam? From Matters of Fact to Matters of Concern

Wars. Somanywars.Wars outside andwars inside.Culturalwars, science wars, and wars against terrorism.Wars against poverty andwars against the poor. Wars against ignorance and wars out of ignorance. My question is simple: Should we be at war, too, we, the scholars, the intellectuals? Is it really our duty to add fresh ruins to fields of ruins? Is it really the task of the humanities to add deconstruction to destruction? More iconoclasm to iconoclasm?What has become of the critical spirit? Has it run out of steam? Quite simply, my worry is that it might not be aiming at the right target. To remain in the metaphorical atmosphere of the time, military experts constantly revise their strategic doctrines, their contingency plans, the size, direction, and technology of their projectiles, their smart bombs, theirmissiles; I wonder why we, we alone, would be saved from those sorts of revisions. It does not seem to me that we have been as quick, in academia, to prepare ourselves for new threats, new dangers, new tasks, new targets. Are wenot like thosemechanical toys that endlesslymake the samegesturewhen everything else has changed around them? Would it not be rather terrible if we were still training young kids—yes, young recruits, young cadets—for wars that are no longer possible, fighting enemies long gone, conquering territories that no longer exist, leaving them ill-equipped in the face of threats we had not anticipated, for whichwe are so thoroughlyunprepared? Generals have always been accused of being on the ready one war late— especially French generals, especially these days. Would it be so surprising,

Guest Editor's Introduction

Western science has played a fundamental role in the creation of the modern world.1 The emergence of modern science in Europe in the Renaissance accompanied and helped propel European overseas expansion.2 It played an important role in the conquest and colonization of Latin America, and in the "second conquest" in the aftermath of independence in the nineteenth century. Despite its importance, the history of science in Latin America has been inadequately cultivated, especially in comparison to themes such as land tenure, labor systems, slavery, and political power. A few Latin American nations-most notably Argentina, Mexico, Cuba, and Venezuela-have venerable traditions in the publication of works on the history of science that in some cases date back to the beginnings of the discipline in the early twentieth century.3 Only in recent years, however, have North American scholars begun to turn their attention to the history of Latin American science rather than the more intensely studied scientific traditions of Europe and the United States

Latin American Science: The Long View

(2002). Latin American Science: The Long View. NACLA Report on the Americas: Vol. 35, No. 5, pp. 18-22.

The Internationalization of Chicago’s Economics in Latin America

Previous articleNext article No AccessThe Internationalization of Chicago’s Economics in Latin America*Glen BiglaiserGlen BiglaiserBowling Green State University Search for more articles by this author Bowling Green State UniversityPDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Economic Development and Cultural Change Volume 50, Number 2January 2002 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/322875 Views: 171Total views on this site Citations: 21Citations are reported from Crossref © 2002 by The University of Chicago. All rights reservedPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Benjamin Alemparte Towards a theory of neoliberal constitutionalism: Addressing Chile’s first constitution-making laboratory, Global Constitutionalism 11, no.11 (Apr 2021): 83–109.https://doi.org/10.1017/S2045381721000058Moritz Kappler Actor Specificities and the Types of Socio-economic Organization, (May 2022): 33–103.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-93805-5_3Elisa Giuliani, Annamaria Tuan, José Calvimontes Cano Creating Shared Value Meets Human Rights: A Sense-Making Perspective in Small-Scale Firms, Journal of Business Ethics 173, no.33 (Jun 2020): 489–505.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-020-04511-7JOHANNA GAUTIER MORIN, THIERRY ROSSIER The interaction of elite networks in the Pinochet regime's macroeconomic policies, Global Networks 21, no.22 (Aug 2020): 339–364.https://doi.org/10.1111/glob.12300Claudia Milena Diaz Rios The Role of Policy Legacies in the Alternative Trajectories of Test-Based Accountability, Comparative Education Review 64, no.44 (Nov 2020): 619–641.https://doi.org/10.1086/710767Mohan Dutta Development, Dominance, and Communication, (Jul 2020): 29–68.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26470-3_2Johanna Gautier Morin The Keynesian-Monetarist Competition over Public Credibility, The Tocqueville Review 40, no.22 (Nov 2019): 281–294.https://doi.org/10.3138/ttr.40.2.281Maite Hernando-Arrese, Manuel Tironi Worlding hydropower: river realities in the Chilean Patagonia, Tapuya: Latin American Science, Technology and Society 2, no.11 (Nov 2019): 295–309.https://doi.org/10.1080/25729861.2019.1675955Douglas A. Irwin The Midway and Beyond, History of Political Economy 50, no.44 (Dec 2018): 735–775.https://doi.org/10.1215/00182702-7202548Claudia Milena Diaz Rios Foreign Prescriptions and Domestic Interests: A Comparison of Education Reform in Argentina and Chile, Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice 20, no.22 (Oct 2016): 193–208.https://doi.org/10.1080/13876988.2016.1239321Simón Escoffier Political Sociology in Latin America, (Oct 2017): 1–9.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_3329-1 Anhang, (Nov 2017): 503–557.https://doi.org/10.13109/9783666301759.503CLAUDIA KEDAR Salvador Allende and the International Monetary Fund, 1970–1973: The Depoliticisation and Technocratisation of Cold War Relations, Journal of Latin American Studies 47, no.44 (May 2015): 717–747.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022216X15000413CONSUELO URIBE MALLARINO The Positioning of Economic Rationality in C olombia, Bulletin of Latin American Research 33, no.11 (Aug 2013): 46–59.https://doi.org/10.1111/blar.12074Jason Beech, Ignacio Barrenechea Pro-market educational governance: is Argentina a black swan?, Critical Studies in Education 52, no.33 (Oct 2011): 279–293.https://doi.org/10.1080/17508487.2011.604077Andreas Bergh, Therese Nilsson Good for Living? On the Relationship between Globalization and Life Expectancy, World Development 38, no.99 (Sep 2010): 1191–1203.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2010.02.020Daniel Fridman A new mentality for a new economy: performing the homo economicus in Argentina (1976–83), Economy and Society 39, no.22 (May 2010): 271–302.https://doi.org/10.1080/03085141003620170Valerie Brender Economic Transformations in Chile: The Formation of the Chicago Boys, The American Economist 55, no.11 (Mar 2010): 111–122.https://doi.org/10.1177/056943451005500112Stéphane Boisard, Mariana Heredia Laboratoires de la mondialisation économique, Vingtième Siècle. Revue d'histoire 105, no.11 (Jan 2010): 109.https://doi.org/10.3917/ving.105.0109Bruce Kogut, J. Muir Macpherson The decision to privatize: economists and the construction of ideas and policies, (Mar 2008): 104–140.https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511755941.003J Muir Macpherson Palace wars and privatization: did Chicago beat Cambridge in influencing economic policies, European Management Review 3, no.33 (Dec 2010): 190–198.https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.emr.1500065

The future of Latin American science.

The future of Latin American science.

Latin American Physicists Weigh In on Funding, Demographics, Potential

Morán-López replies: I thank Azael Barrera for pointing out that the Physical Society of Panama (PSP) was founded in 1980, not 1998. He also explains why the PSP was inactive for the intervening period. The PSP began operations in 1998, the date that I mistook as the founding date. At that time, I was acting president of the Federation of Latin American Physical Societies when the PSP requested affiliation. The PSP is the most recent society to become affiliated with FELASOFI.Barrera suggests that political arguments and distractions, and the desire of many scientists to look better than their colleagues, are two reasons why the Latin American Physics Network (RELAFI) is not “working as well as expected.” RELAFI is one of five Latin American science networks that are funded primarily through UNESCO. Unfortunately, UNESCO has restricted its financial support, and the networks’ activities have been limited accordingly.I appreciate Edgar G. Pavía’s point of view since it raises an interesting question: Does the lack of investment in science and technology in some Latin American countries cause poor economic conditions, or is it the other way around? To promote higher levels of education and thus improve overall economic conditions, Latin American countries must first educate a seed group of scientists, who in turn will contribute to a general improvement in education. Such a seed group needs special conditions to flourish, perhaps the most important being strong initial funding of science and technology programs. However, that initial investment has been hindered by the poor economic conditions in some Latin American countries.© 2001 American Institute of Physics.

Latin American Science and Technology Policy: New Scenarios and the Research Community

The paper begins by analysing the antecedents of the transformations now being faced by the Latin American Science and Technology Policy (STP). A parallel with the STPs of advanced countries is drawn in order to make explicit some aspects that have barely reached the notice of the Latin American research community. Based on a forecasting approach, which implies introducing in science and technology (S&amp;T) decision-making, satisfaction of social demands, the paper suggests some of the implications of this scenario. Besides many other requisites, now hardly feasible for the reorientation of STP, the paper emphasises the importance of a viable and unilateral first step: the resignification of the research community.

Latin American Science and Technology Policy: New Scenarios and the Research Community

The paper begins by analysing the antecedents of the transformations now being faced by the Latin American Science and Technology Policy (STP). A parallel with the STPs of advanced countries is drawn in order to make explicit some aspects that have barely reached the notice of the Latin American research community. Based on a forecasting approach, which implies introducing in science and technology (S&T) decision-making, satisfaction of social demands, the paper suggests some of the implications of this scenario. Besides many other requisites, now hardly feasible for the reorientation of STP, the paper emphasises the importance of a viable and unilateral first step: the resignification of the research community.

Optimal search strategy for clinical trials in the Latin American and Caribbean Health Science Literature Database (LILACS).

To define and disseminate the optimal search strategy for clinical trials in the Latin American and Caribbean Health Science Literature (LILACS). This strategy was elaborated based on the optimal search strategy for MEDLINE recommended by Cochrane Collaboration for the identification of clinical trials in electronic databases. Technical information. Clinical Trials and Meta-Analysis Unit, Federal University of São Paulo, in conjunction with the Brazilian Cochrane Center, São Paulo, Brazil. (http://www.epm.br/cochrane). LILACS/CD-ROM (Latin American and Caribbean Health Science Information Database), 27th edition, January 1997, edited by BIREME (Latin American and Caribbean Health Science Information Center). LILACS Indexes 670 journals in the region, with abstracts in English, Portuguese or Spanish; only 41 overlap in the MEDLINE-EMBASE. Of the 168,902 citations since 1982, 104,016 are in human trials, and 38,261 citations are potentiality clinical trials. Search strategy was elaborated combining headings with text word in three languages, adapting the interface of the LILACS. We will be working by locating clinical trials in LILACS for Cochrane Controlled Trials Database. This effort is being coordinated by the Brazilian Cochrane Center.