1. SALALM 60
SERIALS ACQUISITIONS IN THE DIGITAL “FUTURE”: IF IT’S ALL ONLINE, WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?
2015 By
Jennifer Osorio UCLA

2. QUESTIONS?
Is Open Access in Latin America the same as in the United States? How are the models different?
What, if any, are the implications for libraries and collections of the rapid adoption of OA in Latin America?
Are there dangers to the breakneck speed of OA adoption in Latin America?

3. TRANSFORMATION OF LATIN AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES
From "state-building" and professionalization to a research intensive model more like American universities
In 1980’s establishment of evaluation programs and panels (ex: Sistema Nacional de Investigadores in Mexico)
Three fold growth in number of graduate degrees granted between ; fastest growth was in Brazil, but
Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay, and Ecuador also saw a rapid rise

4. MEASURING QUALITY IN LATIN AMERICA
Panels initially use traditional citation indexes (ex: SCI)
Privilege English-language, international journals
Panels take same approach for all disciplines
Few Latin American venues with an international profile
Need for more visibility for Latin American journals

5. RAPID GROWTH OF OA
Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO): 1997, interdisciplinary, although geared towards "hard" sciences
Red de Revistas Científicas de América Latina y el Caribe, España y Portugal (RedALyC): 2002, interdisciplinary, although geared towards social sciences
Other:
Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales (CLACSO),
institutional repositories in Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, etc.
In 2003, 42% of OA journals indexed in Science Citation Index are from Latin America
As of 2010, almost 74% of OA journals in SCOPUS were from Latin America

6. PROCESSES FOR APPROVAL
Criteria varies widely
Some countries have approved list of journals (Argentina)
Others use complicated lists of criteria to rank journals (Colombia)
Most still give more weight to international publications (Venezuela is a recent exception)
OA Portals require: editorial boards, peer review system, regular publication schedule, abstracts/keywords in English, etc.

7. OA PORTALS = APPROVED?
Funding for SciELO, RedALyC and other portals often comes from the same agencies that fund research-approval panels
Criteria is identical in some cases, or in others the mere fact of inclusion in a portal is enough to win it approval
Assumption is that inclusion in OA portals equals quality

8. DIFFERENT MODELS FOR OA
Latin America
Motivated by need for more visisibility
Accrediting/evaulation
commissions decide quality
Close ties between accrediting commissions and OA portals
Inclusion in OA portals = high quality
North America
Motivated by need to lower costs ("serials crisis") /philosophical
beliefs
Peer review system ensures quality
Distributed responsibility
Inclusion in OA portals not
linked to perception of quality

9. GREAT!
RIGHT?
Image used under Creative Commons license, Flickr, MomentCaptured1

10. PORTAL PRIORITIES Internationalization over regionality
The hard sciences over the social sciences
English over Spanish/Portuguese
Large communities over small
Generic over specialized
Well-funded, stable over struggling

11. WHAT IS LOST? Regional or provincial voices Venues for new scholars
Voices in other languages
Marginalized voices (communities, those w/o digital access)
Under-funded or under-manned publications
Erratic publications

12. NEO-COLONIALISM (YOU KNEW IT HAD TO COME UP)
Is OA in Latin America based on hegemonic or colonial structures?
Does it privilege the privileged?
If it is and it does – and some scholars argue this --what can be done about it?

13. SERIALS COLLECTING TODAY
Seek out representative voices not included in the portals
Disciplines/areas of research with small or specialized audiences
Marginalized communities
Dissenting voices
Prioritize and seek out regional, national, and local titles in collections
Search out research in other formats

14. ADDITIONAL READING
Alperin, J.P, Fischman, G.E., & Willinsky, J. (2010). Scholarly communication
strategies in Latin America’s research intensive universities. Revista Educacion Superior y Sociedad.
Alperin, J.P, Fischman, G.E., & Willinsky, J. (2010). Visibility and quality in
Spanish-language Latin American scholarly publishing. Information Technologies and International Development, 6(4), 1-21.
Bosch, S., & Henderson, K. (2014). Steps down the evolutionary road. Library Journal, 139(7),
Bohannon, J. (4 Oct 2013). Who's Afraid of Peer Review? Science, 6154 (342),
Overview of OA in Latin America. (June 2014).
platforms/goap/access-by-region/latin-america-and-the-caribbean/