The prevailing science communication system has achieved little success in making science a global, participatory and equitable conversation. At the same time, a very robust ecosystem of science communication has been built in the Latin-American region, one that is intrinsically open, non-commercial and academy-owned. However, this “regional” approach has remained outside the legitimated channels of scholarly communication.
AmeliCA’s and Redalyc’s approach is based on the fact that scholarly communication in control of the academy is a strategy much healthier and sustainable for the development of science and society. Why is it that commercial publishers have a pivotal role in science communication – in many parts of the world – while the biggest part of activities concerning the generation of knowledge is in the academy?
So, it is strategic for the research community and libraries to join forces in order to share and connect individual efforts to build a cooperative infrastructure that ensures that publishing is led by the scholarly community and its openness is sustainable, and to work together to redesign research assessment in order to give the non-profit academy-owned scholarly communications its place. All this can be leveraged by technology to find more effective methods for scholarly communication and the deployment of the knowledge generated in different regions, disciplinary fields or languages.
Arianna BECERRIL, President Ameli, AmeliCA, Professor, Universidad de Mexico