A re-normalized impact factor study of the relevance of Latin-American scholarly journals

LATIN-AMERICAN SCIENCE HAS SOUGHT TO BE COME EVER MORE RELEVANT IN THE GLOBAL SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY. ONE THRUST OF THIS IMPULSE IS THE CREATION OF WORLD-CLASS SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS THAT RESPOND TO THE INTERESTS OF THE LATIN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY. SUCH JOURNALS ARE JUSTIFIED IN SO MUCH AS THEY OPEN FORUMS FOR THE DISSEMINATION OF RESEARCH THAT IS REGIONALLY RELEVANT AND FUEL THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE LATIN-AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC TRADITION. IN ORDER FOR THE SE JOURNALS TO CONTINUE TO PROSPER, IT IS IMPORTANT TO EXPLICITLY DESCRIBE THEIR IMPACT IN THE GLOBAL SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY. IN THE PRESENT STUDY A RE-NORMALIZED IMPACT FACTOR IS USED IN ORDER TO ANALYZE THE EVOLUTION OF THE RELEVANCE OF LATIN-AMERICAN SCHOLARLY JOURNALS INCLUDED IN THE JOURNAL CITATION REPORTS (JCR) FOR THE PERIOD 1991-1997. THIS RE-NORMALIZED IMPACT FACTOR IS DEFINED IN SUCH A WAY THAT IT TAKES INTO ACCOUNT THE SPECIFITY OF THE JCR CATEGORIES UNDER WHICH EACH JOURNAL FALLS. IT WAS FOUND THAT FOR THE PERIOD 10Ç991-1997 THE RELEVANCE OF LATIN-AMERICAN SCHOLARLY JOURNALS INCLUDED IN THE JCR WAS GENERALLY ON THE RISE, BUT THAT THEY FAILED TO EXERT SIGNIFICANT IMPACT IN THEIR RESPECTIVE FIELDS.