The Ibero-American scholarly journals in Latindex. A 15-year vision

Abstract

From data compiled by the Latindex information system from 1997 to date, the findings of a predominantly quantitative analysis, based on a number of variables, of Ibero-American scholarly journals are presented. Results show a steady growth in the number of journals in the region, with an increasing focus on online journals, which since 2007 surpass those recorded in print format, annually. The important role of educational institutions as journal editors was confirmed. The prevalence of publishing in national languages (Spanish and Portuguese) is also identified, with English publication in the third place. The behavior of journals with regard to editorial quality standards suggest prevailing difficulties to meet certain aspects related to the management and editorial policies and, for online journals, an underutilization of the functionalities of electronic publishing was detected. Finally, a comparison of 10 years of compliance with certain characteristics leads to expect an improvement of such publications in terms of the set of criteria designed by Latindex.