Science In Cuba Research Articles

Alternative metrics and social impact of research about Social Sciences in Cuba

Abstract The evaluation of the social impact of research is a critical concern for both the scientific and social communities. This study aims to describe the social impact of scientific research outcomes in the field of Social Sciences in Cuba. Five dimensions of analysis and 16 alternative indicators were utilized, employing altmetric tools and data sources. The data for the study were collected from the Scopus database and the altmetric data provider PlumX Metrics. Statistical techniques for trend and correlation analysis between indicators, along with data visualization, were used for the analysis. The results indicate that the most prominent indicators were citations in Scopus and CrossRef, Views Count, Full Text Views, Abstract Views, Readers in Mendeley Captures, and social network metrics from Facebook and Twitter. The research findings with the greatest social impact pertained to climate change and environmental policy, scientific production related to COVID-19, higher education, sustainable development, gender studies, legislation, and tourism.

Characterization of the collection of university scientific journals of health sciences in Cuba

Introduction: the existence of university scientific journals has a positive impact on undergraduate publication, encouraging and training new generations of researchers. Objective: to characterize the collection of University Scientific Journals of Health Sciences in Cuba. Method: observational, descriptive and transversal study in the 15 journals that form the University Scientific Journals of Health Sciences in Cuba. Production indicators were studied, as well as indexing. Results: 15 Cuban RCUs referring to the area of Health Sciences were identified. One hundred percent are installed in Open Journal System, and only one uses its version 3. 93,33 % have an ISSN. The journals Universidad Médica Pinareña and 16 de abril achieved a greater number of indexations. The database with the highest number of journals was REDIB (9), followed by DOAJ (4) and CAB International (4). The most productive year was 2021 (ndoc=394), with the most productive journals being 16 de Abril (ndoc=304) and Universidad Médica Pinareña (ndoc=274). The rate of change showed an increasing trend in the period 2018-2021, however it was negative (Tvar=-5,21) between 2021 and 2022. Conclusions: Cuba has a wide collection of University Scientific Journals, which are in a process of growth and consolidation. There was a tendency to increase the number of articles published in the journals. The journals Universidad Médica Pinareña and 16 de abril showed a greater development, achieving better indexing and a higher scientific production

Science in Cuba and Puerto Rico

Science in Cuba and Puerto Rico

CATALOG/REPOSITORY OF QUALITY AUDIOVISUALS FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD

The design of the project fostering an audiovisual culture for children in early childhood and their families, through the use of multiple screens, was structured with the help of the defi nition of tasks and specifi c objectives linked to each other, so that the achievement of each one could lead to the achievement of the fi nal goal. The referential theoretical framework of the aforementioned research project, approved by the scientifi c community formed in the Central Institute of Pedagogical Sciences of Cuba (ICCP) and formally represented in its Scientifi c Council, fulfi lled the essential function of supporting the research process and of course, of the organization of actions. That is why, from the adequate interrelation, interpretation and contextualization, of the two great theoretical nuclei assumed (related to the conceptions of early childhood and its development and with an audiovisual culture), synthesized in the national context from the activity of the Center of Latin American Reference for Preschool Education (CELEP) and the Cuban Institute of Cultural Research Juan Marinello, emerge the main decisions and proposals that are made. From these essential pillars, the result that is presented was built. The general objective is to prepare a catalog of quality materials, with the potential to contribute to audiovisual consumption for early childhood development. In order to fulfi ll the proposed objective, more than  audiovisuals of all origins, extensions, genres and formats were observed. For their selection, it was taken into consideration as inclusion criteria, that they were aimed at the early ages and that they were quality materials. The focus of the study carried out is fundamentally qualitative, in which the theoretical, analytical-synthetic, inductive-deductive and systematization methods of scientifi c research are privileged.

Cuban research on sea turtles (1994-2021): authorship, subject, and collaboration analysis

This article analyzed Cuban research on sea turtles from a thematic and bibliometric perspective. This has been a mixed investigation in which bibliometric and content analysis techniques were applied. The Google Scholar database was used to retrieve documents. The authors with the highest productivity were those from the Fisheries Research Center (Cuba). The thematic areas most studied were: Studies in nesting areas (41%) and Conservation and management (25.6%). The south of the Guanahacabibes peninsula and the south of the Isla de la Juventud were the most examined geographical areas. The most studied species were: Chelonia mydas, Eretmochelys imbricata, and Caretta caretta. According to the centrality degree, the most important institutions were Cuban, standing out the Center for Fisheries Research, the Center for Marine Research, and the University of Havana. The most significant collaboration links were between the University of Havana-Marine Research Center, the National Company for the Protection of Flora and Fauna-Marine Research Center, the Marine Research Center-Fisheries Research Center, and the University of Havana-INSTEC. Through the thematic analysis, it was evidenced that there are geographical areas where sea turtles also nest. However, there are not many studies in this regard. Future research is recommended to deepen these issues for developing fisheries science in Cuba.

Perceived Stress by Students of the Medical Sciences in Cuba Toward the COVID-19 Pandemic: Results of an Online Survey

IntroductionThe aims of this study were to determine the usefulness of the Modified (10-item) Scale of Perceived Stress related to COVID-19 (EEP-10-C, for its acronym in Spanish) and to identify the levels of stress perceived by students of medical sciences in Cuba due to the COVID-19 pandemic. MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted, with self-reported data of students from 14 Cuban universities of medical sciences (n=200), through an online survey. The EEP-10-C was used as an instrument to identify stress. Its validity was determined through a confirmatory factor analysis and its internal consistency and reliability was measured by the Cronbach's alpha. A cluster analysis was performed to establish as the cut-off point the centre of the cluster with the highest values of stress perceived by the scale. ResultsThe average age of the sample was 23.30± 1.91 years, with observed scores of the EEP-10-C between 0 and 29 points (13.25±5.404). When applying the cut-off point ≥25, only two students had high rates of perceived stress. The confirmatory factor analysis supported the validity of the instrument (α=0.755). The cut-off point ≥20 was proposed as a reference of high stress perceived for the study population, when applying this one, 14% of students presented high rates of stress. ConclusionsIn Cuba, students of the medical sciences have participated in research and healthcare support, despite which they have presented low levels of stress. The main contribution of the research was the validation of the EEP-10-C for its use in assessing levels of stress in Cuban medical students, proposing the cut-off point ≥20 as a reference of high stress perceived.

Фотографический дискурс по фондам Института истории Кубы. Анализ для нового использования

Photography is the most widely found unwritten textual document in the archives. For this reason, we propose a first approach to the photo-graphic funds of the historical archive of the Institute of History of Cu-ba (IHC) from a comprehensive perspective as a photographic corpus that carries a discourse and not in a fragmented way. For this we will use serialized reading, according to the themes, because it is in the col-lections and archival funds where photography acquires, as an informa-tive medium, true meaning. We will refer only to documentary photog-raphy, which in its testimonial quality preserves the perishable to the collective memory by referring to what happened in concrete reality with a specific time and space, always from the subjectivity of the pho-tographer, which is why it can be used as a historical source of knowledge. Through this work we propose a new institutional use, from the inside archive, that contributes to rescuing the patrimonial values of these funds as one of the essential photographic narratives of the history of Cuba and at the same time perfecting ourselves as public servants. It is not a simple case study, the Institute of History of Cuba is a unique institution in the network of social sciences in Cuba.

Research on Information Sciences in Cuba: Flows of knowledge during the period 2005-2019

Objective. To characterize the Cuban research on Information Sciences, and to analyze the flows of knowledge between its intellectual base and the research fronts influenced by Cuban researchers.
 Design/Methodology/Approach. The subject category “Information Science and Library Science” from Web of Science, during the period 2005-2019, was studied. The intellectual base was determined by author co-citation analysis. Citing articles of Cuban authors were analyzed by bibliographic coupling and term co-occurrence techniques. A documental analysis of bibliometric studies on the discipline in Cuba was developed.
 Results/Discussion. The diversification of the topics discussed overtime was verified, which have been in correspondence with social needs. A sustained increase in scientific production was observed, based on collaboration and intense postgraduate training. A greater number of journals were used to disseminate the results, which were cited from multiple knowledge areas.
 Conclusions. The communicating vessels between the intellectual base and influenced research fronts evidenced the appropriation of foreign and Cuban referents in the disciplinary constructive process, their growing influence on the global scientific community, and the configuration of a cognitive space of disciplinary confluence between Library Science, Information Science, Archival Science, and Social Communication, closely connected with the thematic axes that lead global research.
 Originality/Value. An exhaustive documentary review, combined with bibliometric techniques, allowed the thematic characterization and analysis of the evolution of Cuban informational thinking during the last 15 years (2005-2019), in relation to its regional and global context.

Perceived Stress by Students of the Medical Sciences in Cuba Toward the COVID-19 Pandemic: Results of an Online Survey

IntroductionThe aims of this study were to determine the usefulness of the Modified (10-item) Scale of Perceived Stress related to COVID-19 (EEP-10-C, for its acronym in Spanish) and to identify the levels of stress perceived by students of medical sciences in Cuba due to the COVID-19 pandemic. MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted, with self-reported data of students from 14 Cuban universities of medical sciences (n=200), through an online survey. The EEP-10-C was used as an instrument to identify stress. Its validity was determined through a confirmatory factor analysis and its internal consistency and reliability was measured by the Cronbach's alpha. A cluster analysis was performed to establish as the cut-off point the centre of the cluster with the highest values of stress perceived by the scale. ResultsThe average age of the sample was 23.30± 1.91 years, with observed scores of the EEP-10-C between 0 and 29 points (13.25±5.404). When applying the cut-off point ≥25, only two students had high rates of perceived stress. The confirmatory factor analysis supported the validity of the instrument (α=0.755). The cut-off point ≥20 was proposed as a reference of high stress perceived for the study population, when applying this one, 14% of students presented high rates of stress. ConclusionsIn Cuba, students of the medical sciences have participated in research and healthcare support, despite which they have presented low levels of stress. The main contribution of the research was the validation of the EEP-10-C for its use in assessing levels of stress in Cuban medical students, proposing the cut-off point ≥20 as a reference of high stress perceived.

Modelo pedagógico de formación holística ambiental en los estudiantes de carreras pedagógicas del área de Ciencias Naturales en Cuba

The article provides a pedagogical model of holistic environmental formation in the students of pedagogical careers of the area of Natural Sciences in Cuba. In correspondence with the qualitative methodology, methods such as holistic- dialectic, analysis- synthesis, inductive- deductive were applied during the epistemological foundation of the object of study, as well as modeling in the construction of the pedagogical model. 6 configurations and 3 qualities were proposed, integrated in the dimensions: contextual cognitive, contextualized educational and behavior environmental holistic formation. The results obtained allow us to conclude that by confronting the contextual partner-environmental characterization with the assimilation of environmental knowledge, the interactive complementation of environmental knowledge is fostered, from which emerges the contextual environmental holistic reflection and the holistic environmental proactive capacity, which are synthesized in the holistic environmental pedagogic performance. They constitute resulting qualities: the integrative cognitive environmental projection, the holistic environmental reflexive attitude and the holistic environmental cosmovisory behavior.

Characterization of Smoking in Adolescents from the Medical Sciences in Cuba

Background: The characterization in adolescent’s smokers as prevention from the medical sciences is one of the lines of the work team in the consultation of Ceasing Tobacco. Objective: To characterize of smoking in adolescents from the medical sciences in Cuba. The investigation embraced one period from January 2019 to September 2019. Method: A descriptive study of traverse court was used. Registered to 41 students for sampling intentional non probabilistic, of an universe of 80 adolescent students. It was used empiric methods; clinical histories, interviews structured and the questionnaire. Results: The male sex prevailed, where 51,2 % of the active smoking adolescents was understood between the 13 and 15 years of age, 78 % of these they began to smoke between the 12 and 15 years. Conclusion: Of why the most frequent reasons began to smoke it was the relaxation and the pressure group given by a code of companionship.

Género y diversidad sexual en la Cuba actual. Algunas reflexiones

Nowadays there exists a marked interest for the gender and the sexual diversity in analysts, decision-makers, journalists, academicians and scholars of the social sciences in Cuba; a distinct matter according to the multiple adopted positions, during the public debate provoked around the total reform of the Republic’s Constitution, which since June, 2018 up to now, in one way or another, it provides a turning point regarding such theme. This article pursues to reveal the treatment given to the gender and the sexual diversity in the Cuban context from transdisciplinary perspective, taking into consideration the theoretical production, empirical and the form in the social practice of the studied issue. It is concluded that the treatment to this theme contains currently in Cuba dissimilar perspectives and thoughts, which demonstrate the existence of an open debate, inserted in a social change process.

Contação de Histórias em Unidade Oncológica Pediátrica

Introdução: Em oncologia pediátrica, inúmeros e complexos desafios estão presentes, muitos relacionados às mudanças existenciais que permeiam o mundo da criança e da família e daqueles que profissionalmente cuidam desses pacientes. Objetivo: Identificar os benefícios da contação de histórias no cuidado à criança oncológica. Método: Trata-se de um estudo de revisão integrativa da literatura, no qual os artigos foram pesquisados, no período de 2003 a 2018, nas línguas portuguesa e inglesa, nas bases de dados: Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde (Lilacs), Bases de Dados de Enfermagem (Bdenf), Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (Medline), Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO ) e Centro Nacional de Informação de Ciências Médicas de Cuba (Cumed). Resultados: Dos artigos encontrados, três estavam de acordo com a proposta da temática. Entre os benefícios da contação de histórias na pediatria oncológica, destacam-se o bem-estar dos pacientes, a colaboração no processo saúde-doença aliviando a dor e o sofrimento proveniente do tratamento oncológico, além do favorecimento do vínculo entre a criança com a equipe multiprofissional. Conclusão: A contação de história é uma estratégia que possibilita à criança com câncer um maior conforto em relação ao seu estado clínico, maximiza o seu bem-estar e ajuda em sua recuperação, permitindo um cuidado mais humanizado.

Conferencing Cuba's Geographies of Speleology: The Politics of Inclusion and Hospitality among Cave Explorers and Scientists

From the 13th to the 17th of April of 2015, Cuban cave explorers and scientists, or speleologists, gathered to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Sociedad Espeleológica de Cuba (SEC) in the city of Camaguëy. This organization, dedicated to the exploration, study, and conservation of the country's many caves, was founded in 1940, and was the first of its kind in the Americas. While scholars have examined the achievements of Cuba's biotechnology sector, Cuban science beyond academic institutes and laboratories has been overlooked. In this paper I present ethnographic and interview data obtained during the Camaguëy conference as an entry point into Cuba's “geographies of speleology” (Cant 2006). Such geographies emphasize the complex relations between geographic knowledge, individual and institutional identities, and the state. Moreover, these geographies, much like the sense of identification with and belonging to the Sociedad Espeleológica de Cuba, are at times conflicting and contested. I develop this argument by drawing on insights in cultural geography that emphasize the importance of presence of absence. Here I invoke absence in two senses, both in terms of those absent in the Camagüey conference and those deceased but whose memory live on embodied in the collective history and knowledge of the SEC. This research illustrates the importance of stepping out of the (biotechnological) laboratory, and even the formal spaces of institutionalized scientific practice, to assess the history and potential futures of a geographically-based amateur field science in Cuba. Moreover, this work contributes to the growing focus on Latin American geographies of science and, in particular, the importance of Science and Technology Studies in/ of Cuba that examine the fuzzy boundaries of science as practice in a complex spatial network. Finally, the ongoing dynamics of foreign scholars conducting research in Cuba are considered, dynamics that are intimately tied to the very geographies this project purports to analyze.

Juventud e investigaciones sociales en Cuba

ResumenLos estudios sobre Juventud han constituido una de las áreas de tratamiento más sistemático y estructurado por parte de las Ciencias Sociales en Cuba. El siguiente artí­culo hará referencia al recorrido de dichos estudios por más de cuatro décadas y centrará la atención en el tratamiento de un problema concreto investigado en la última etapa: la integración social de la juventud en el paí­s y el impacto de los resultados de esos estudios en los cambios en las polí­ticas sociales dirigidas a este sector.

Diferencias entre política y ciencia en cuba

This article is the outcome of the systematic use of the application of the ethnographic method, supported in the participative observation and the interview to determine the current status of the relation between the official policies of the Cuban State and science in Cuba, demonstrating a substantial divorce between both institutions, which attempts against creativity, generates dissatisfactions in scientists, creates incongruity between the academic qualifications or scientific grades granted with the scientific quality results, allowing a proliferation of the opinion science which does not generate knowledge. On the other hand, some actions are proposed to contribute to the necessary approach between science and politics. Keywords Policy, science, policy and science, scientific policy, cuban science, cuban policy

Concepciones teóricas en el estudio de las migraciones internacionales: una mirada desde la sociología cubana

Objetivo: sistematizar los aportes más relevantes ofrecidos por los presupuestos teóricos de las migraciones desde una mirada sociológica, y su conexión con el estado actual de las investigaciones cubanas de este corte.Metodología: revisión documental en la que se examina el concepto de migración ofrecido por Giner, Espinosa y Torres; se abordan las principales perspectivas teóricas para el estudio de las migraciones y los paradigmas teóricos más recientes que estudian la temática de las migraciones internacionales de manera más específica, se revisan los distintos conceptos sobre migración elaborados y utilizados en la Isla. También se revisan los estudios realizados recientemente en el contexto cubano.Resultados: en el caso de la ciencia sociológica en Cuba, no se encontró un concepto de migración “propio” o “único” aportado por los autores cubanos, puesto que ellos integraron los elementos ofrecidos por definiciones de áreas como la demografía, la psicología y la historia.Conclusiones: los principales presupuestos teóricos que tributan al estudio de las migraciones internacionales se encuentran, en gran medida, fragmentados, debido a que la mayoría de las teorías han sido elaboradas de manera aislada. En ellos se pueden encontrar carencias y propuestas en ocasiones contrapuestas si se les compara a unas con otras; sin embargo, algunas resultan complementarias, y queda claro que cada una aporta elementos útiles.

Diferencias entre política y ciencia en Cuba

Este artículo es el resultado del uso sistemático de la aplicación del método etnográfico, apoyado en la observación participativa y en la entrevista, para determinar el estado actual de la relación entre las políticas oficiales del Estado cubano y la ciencia en Cuba, el divorcio entre ambas instituciones, que atenta contra la creatividad, genera insatisfacciones en los científicos, crea incongruencia entre las calificaciones académicas o las calificaciones científicas otorgadas con los resultados de calidad científica, permitiendo una proliferación de la ciencia de la opinión que no genera conocimiento. Por otro lado, se proponen algunas acciones para contribuir al acercamiento necesario entre ciencia y política.

Evaluating patterns of national and international collaboration in Cuban science using bibliometric tools

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to explore the hypothesis that collaboration was a key characteristic of Cuban science to maintain their scientific capacity during a period of economic restrictions and an important feature of Cuban science policy and practice for the benefit of society.Design/methodology/approach– Collaboration was studied through Cuban scientific publications listed in PubMed for the period 1990-2010. The search was carried out using the advanced search engine of PubMed indicating < Cuba > in the affiliation field. To identify participating institutions a second search was performed to find the affiliations of all authors per article through the link to the electronic journal. A data set was created to identify institutional publication patterns for the surveyed period. Institutions were classified in three categories according to their scientific production as Central, Middle or Distal: the pattern of collaboration between these categories was analysed.Findings– Results indicate that collaboration between scientifically advanced institutions (Central) and a wide range of national institutions is a consequence of the social character of science in Cuba in which cooperation prevails. Although this finding comes from a limited field of biomedical science it is likely to reflect Cuban science policy in general.Originality/value– Using bibliometric tools the study suggests that Cuban science policy and practice ensure the application of science for social needs by harnessing human resources through national and international collaboration, building in this way stronger scientific capacity.

Cuadros de costumbres en Cuba y Puerto Rico: de la historia natural y la literatura de viajes a las ciencias sociales

In this essay, my interest is to return to the cuadros de costumbres in Cuba and Puerto Rico as one of the ways to rethink the relations between science and literature in the nineteenth century. In its most varied manifestations, the cuadro de costumbres articulated a discursive modality that enabled the organization and structuring of zones of thought in the nineteenth century, from the artistic and literary spheres to racial and scientific discourses. In the long genealogy that stretches from the natural to the social sciences, the cuadro de costumbres operated as a dominant vehicle for the dissemination of knowledge. In a period when scientific disciplines had not attained a high degree of specialization and autonomy, discursively or institutionally, the costumbrista practice generated important knowledge regarding society and forged connections with the rise of scientific discourse in the political and public sphere. This was possible on account of the tropological and conceptual ties that costumbrismo maintained with natural history and travel literature. This process of coming to terms with the dominant scientific paradigms of the nineteenth century gave costumbrismo an epistemological toolkit that would make it a central referent for the emergence and consolidation of the social sciences in Cuba and Puerto Rico.