Interdisciplinaria: Revista de Psicología y Ciencias Afines. A bibliometric analysis (2009-2017) [Interdisciplinaria: Revista de Psicología y Ciencias Afines. Un análisis bibliométrico (2009-2017)]

Abstract

El estudio tuvo por objetivo realizar un análisis bibliométrico de Interdisciplinaria: Revista de Psicología y Ciencias Afines, considerando las publicaciones indizadas en la base bibliográfica Scopus (2009-2017). A partir de una muestra final de 173 artículos científicos, se realizó la descripción de la distribución de los documentos según el sexo de los autores y el idioma de la publicación, así también, se evaluó el cumplimiento de la ley de Lotka sobre la producción científica de los autores. Además, se estimaron índices de colaboración (Lawani, 1981, 1986; Subramanyam, 1983) y se visualizaron las relaciones entre los países de las instituciones de filiación de los autores firmantes. De igual forma, se describió la concentración de trabajos de acuerdo con áreas temáticas y metodologías de investigación. En los resultados se destaca una mayor presencia de mujeres en comparación con los hombres, tanto en la primera autoría como en el total de autores. Así también, se cumple con la ley de Lotka y se visualiza el incremento de trabajos colaborativos en los últimos dos trienios, lo cual se evidencia en los índices de colaboración descritos. Por otra parte, se encontró que los trabajos se concentran en áreas como la psicología educacional, metodología y psicometría. Finalmente, se observa que predominan los trabajos que siguieron metodología cuantitativa. El análisis y discusión de los resultados permite mostrar el trabajo realizado por Interdisciplinaria en los últimos años, siendo un referente para la comunicación del conocimiento científico en los países de Iberoamérica.

Scientific journals constitute the main channels of the dissemination of scientific knowledge. For this reason, in recent years, the amount of bibliometric studies aiming to elucidate the main features of published articles has increased. This allows for the understanding of investigated topics, contribution and collaboration among authors, institutions and countries involved, as well as the identification of new trends of research. In the field of psychology, the journals with the greatest impact are edited and managed in Anglo-American and Western European countries. Within the Latin American context however, there are also significant editorial efforts to publish relevant articles as in the case of Interdisciplinaria: Revista de Psicología y Ciencias Afines, considered a mainstream scientific journal that is indexed in important bibliographic databases (Scopus, WoS- Scielo Citation Index, Scielo) which have maintained the journal’s validity for more than 35 years. The importance of Interdisciplinaria motivates novel research into the characteristics of the scientific articles it publishes. Therefore, this study carries out a bibliometric analysis of Interdisciplinaria, considering the publications indexed in the bibliographic database Scopus (2009-2017). First the history, current status of the journal, and the importance of the bibliometric studies are presented. Then, the process of identification, selection and registration of scientific articles published and indexed in Scopus is formally addressed. From a final sample of 173 articles, the documents were broken down according to the authors’ gender and the language of the publication. Moreover, the compliance with Lotka’s Law on the scientific production of the authors was evaluated. Also, the collaboration rates (Lawani, 1981, 1986; Subramanyam, 1983) were estimated and the collaborative relationships among countries of the authors’ affiliations were displayed. Hence, the sampled works were categorized according to thematic areas and research methodologies. The results reveal a greater presence of women than men, both in the first authorship and in the total authors. Thus the author distribution complies with Lotka’s Law. In particular, it is noted that few authors have the highest number of contributions, while many authors have the least number of contributions. With regard to collaborative work, a substantial increase appeared in the last two triennia (2012-2014 and 2015-2017). This is evident by computing the values of the Lawani and Subramanyam rates. Furthermore, the works are concentrated in areas such as educational psychology, methodology, and psychometry among others (e.g. neuropsychology, comparative psychology, environmental psychology). Finally, it was noted that contributions on quantitative methodology predominated, followed by theoretical studies. The analysis and discussion of the results allow Interdisciplinaria to be used as a reference in the communication of scientific knowledge in Latin America countries, concluding that its denomination as a journal of psychology and related sciences is fairly attributed, since it publishes studies from different fields, a number of which show the connection between psychology and other disciplines.