Revista Facultad de Ingeniería -redin-, Universidad de Antioquia, No.110, pp. 7-8, Jan-Mar 2024
EDITORIAL
For some years now, the National System of Science,
Technology, and Innovation (SNCTI) has been changing
how sciences and scientific knowledge are recognized as
public policy tools to achieve social objectives such as, for
example, economic development or, recently, sustainable
development [1, 2]. In this sense, the National Planning
Department (DNP), through policy CONPES 4069 of 2021,
determines SNCTI as having a low contribution to the
development of the country and, consequently, promotes
a public policy that increases the contribution of the SNCTI
to the cultural changes required by a knowledge society.
In this context, the new public management has developed
a methodology for calculating academic growth that
prioritizes and classifies university work [3], from both,
people (professors, researchers) and research groups,
institutions, countries, etc., for the sake of assumed
efficiency, productivity, and quality of academic work.
Publindex, a national index part of the SNCTI, has sought
to standardize national quality and visibility criteria, aiming
to improve the competitiveness of national journals with
respect to the international context. To this end, a model
for measuring and classifying journals allowed, just before
2016, to improve editorial policies and practices, as well
as the qualification of editorial teams and committees.
Since the inclusion of the impact factor (IF) in call 768 of
2016, Publindex limited the quality of editorial projects to
the position in any of the quartiles of the Journal Citation
Report (JCR) or the SCImago Journal Report (SJR), or the
Google Scholar H5 quartile.
At the end of 2022, the Science Directorate of the Ministry
of Science, Technology, and Innovation (Minciencias)
presented the technical adjustments to the Classification
Model of Colombian Scientific Journals, with the intention
of updating them pointing to the most recent conceptual
and methodological developments to assess the impact
of national scientific production. This presentation called
for a public consultation on the implications and changes
of this Journal Classification Model, seeking to collect
contributions that would enrich the proposal and, thus,
achieve a model that would promote the quality of scientific
journals through a classification system.
Despite the various calls to rethink the relevance of
including the impact factor in the journal classification
model, Minciencias aims to maintain a criterion technically
renamed as ”impact by combination of metrics” (ICM) by
thematic categories, under the pretext of i) expanding
the realm of citation sources, ii) reducing limitations
of classical indexes (JCR and SJR) and iii) maintaining
a level of rigor to increase the quality, visibility, and
impact of Colombian journals. Knowledge, education, and
technological developments encompass the processes
of a set of human and technical resources, access to
information and, above all, the policies that a State
implements to organize such resources. In an increasingly
globalized world, the gap in scientific and technological
capabilities between countries is one of the most
reliable indicators of underdevelopment and development
according to the importance and progress given to them.
It is clear that investing in science and technology
and efficiency in said investment is essential for a society
to respond to the comprehension of the environment,
and, above all, to base development and dynamize social
change. Aware of this reality, countries like the United
States have formulated very ambitious 20-year programs
that will provide resources for both the calculation and the
experimentation of super calculators, super intelligent
networks, biotechnology, nanotechnologies, and robotics,
among others, with joint work scheme between scientists
and industry, who would oversee creating and launching
the products and the knowledge that is generated. Thus,
”a perfect assembly” is generated between scientific and
technological research plus productive activity, which
feeds back into the system to unsuspected levels.
Regarding global investment in Research and
Development, Figure 1 presents data between 1996
and 2021 of this investment per year globally for all
countries in the world, reflecting in 2021 an investment of
2.55% of GDP in the world while Colombia for that year
presented an investment of 0.29% [4]. According to a study
by The Global Technology Revolution 2021, by the RAND
National Security Research Division of the US, Colombia
is located in the group of “scientific developing countries”;
along with Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Turkey, South Africa and
Indonesia. That is the third category of CLJatro, in which
the last belongs to the ”scientifically lagging countries”,
the second ”scientifically competent” and the first, the
”scientifically advanced”. Such a position of Colombia
would correspond, on the one hand, to the volatility of
the allocation of resources, and on the other hand, the
resources assigned to research and development are
used simultaneously for the training and development
of researchers, as well as for the research itself, which
decreases its potential.
In turn, factors such as poverty, precariousness in
public services, political instability, and the few economic
resources that characterize most Latin American countries
are barriers to achievements in the use of science and
7 DOI: 10.17533/udea.redin.20231236
EDITORIAL
For some years now, the National System of Science,
Technology, and Innovation (SNCTI) has been changing
how sciences and scientific knowledge are recognized as
public policy tools to achieve social objectives such as, for
example, economic development or, recently, sustainable
development [1, 2]. In this sense, the National Planning
Department (DNP), through policy CONPES 4069 of 2021,
determines SNCTI as having a low contribution to the
development of the country and, consequently, promotes
a public policy that increases the contribution of the SNCTI
to the cultural changes required by a knowledge society.
In this context, the new public management has developed
a methodology for calculating academic growth that
prioritizes and classifies university work [3], from both,
people (professors, researchers) and research groups,
institutions, countries, etc., for the sake of assumed
efficiency, productivity, and quality of academic work.
Publindex, a national index part of the SNCTI, has sought
to standardize national quality and visibility criteria, aiming
to improve the competitiveness of national journals with
respect to the international context. To this end, a model
for measuring and classifying journals allowed, just before
2016, to improve editorial policies and practices, as well
as the qualification of editorial teams and committees.
Since the inclusion of the impact factor (IF) in call 768 of
2016, Publindex limited the quality of editorial projects to
the position in any of the quartiles of the Journal Citation
Report (JCR) or the SCImago Journal Report (SJR), or the
Google Scholar H5 quartile.
At the end of 2022, the Science Directorate of the Ministry
of Science, Technology, and Innovation (Minciencias)
presented the technical adjustments to the Classification
Model of Colombian Scientific Journals, with the intention
of updating them pointing to the most recent conceptual
and methodological developments to assess the impact
of national scientific production. This presentation called
for a public consultation on the implications and changes
of this Journal Classification Model, seeking to collect
contributions that would enrich the proposal and, thus,
achieve a model that would promote the quality of scientific
journals through a classification system.
Despite the various calls to rethink the relevance of
including the impact factor in the journal classification
model, Minciencias aims to maintain a criterion technically
renamed as ”impact by combination of metrics” (ICM) by
thematic categories, under the pretext of i) expanding
the realm of citation sources, ii) reducing limitations
of classical indexes (JCR and SJR) and iii) maintaining
a level of rigor to increase the quality, visibility, and
impact of Colombian journals. Knowledge, education, and
technological developments encompass the processes
of a set of human and technical resources, access to
information and, above all, the policies that a State
implements to organize such resources. In an increasingly
globalized world, the gap in scientific and technological
capabilities between countries is one of the most
reliable indicators of underdevelopment and development
according to the importance and progress given to them.
It is clear that investing in science and technology
and efficiency in said investment is essential for a society
to respond to the comprehension of the environment,
and, above all, to base development and dynamize social
change. Aware of this reality, countries like the United
States have formulated very ambitious 20-year programs
that will provide resources for both the calculation and the
experimentation of super calculators, super intelligent
networks, biotechnology, nanotechnologies, and robotics,
among others, with joint work scheme between scientists
and industry, who would oversee creating and launching
the products and the knowledge that is generated. Thus,
”a perfect assembly” is generated between scientific and
technological research plus productive activity, which
feeds back into the system to unsuspected levels.
Regarding global investment in Research and
Development, Figure 1 presents data between 1996
and 2021 of this investment per year globally for all
countries in the world, reflecting in 2021 an investment of
2.55% of GDP in the world while Colombia for that year
presented an investment of 0.29% [4]. According to a study
by The Global Technology Revolution 2021, by the RAND
National Security Research Division of the US, Colombia
is located in the group of “scientific developing countries”;
along with Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Turkey, South Africa and
Indonesia. That is the third category of CLJatro, in which
the last belongs to the ”scientifically lagging countries”,
the second ”scientifically competent” and the first, the
”scientifically advanced”. Such a position of Colombia
would correspond, on the one hand, to the volatility of
the allocation of resources, and on the other hand, the
resources assigned to research and development are
used simultaneously for the training and development
of researchers, as well as for the research itself, which
decreases its potential.
In turn, factors such as poverty, precariousness in
public services, political instability, and the few economic
resources that characterize most Latin American countries
are barriers to achievements in the use of science and
7 DOI: 10.17533/udea.redin.20231236
Figure 1 Investment in Research and Development (% of GDP)
technology described by the RAND reports, including the
areas of biotechnology, nanotechnology, materials, and
information technologies. In order to determine such
barriers, the study calculated in terms of percentages
both the barriers to uses and the driving forces behind
them, where ”scientifically advanced” countries such as
Germany and Canada have 30% barriers and 100% driving
forces. Meanwhile, the United States has 40% barriers and
100% forces. Likewise, Australia, Japan and Korea, with
30% and 90%. Finally, Israel, which has 40% barriers and
90% driving forces. A special case in this perspective is
China, which, despite having 70% barriers, has more than
50% opportunities. The study shows that the barriers in
Colombia are at 70% while the driving forces are at 10% [5].
To understand the reason for this situation, in a historical
review, in Colombia, in 1990, the National System of
Science and Technology was institutionalized where
the central body was Colciencias, acting as Technical
Secretariat. In its investment budget, Colciencias
accumulated an investment of $299,877.3 million in
Colombian pesos between 2001 and 2004, and $87,266
million for 2005. Additionally, the first PhD was granted in
the country in 1994, and it was only until 2005 when there
were more than 160 PhD-degree holders. However, the
increase was slow, because to match the pace of the most
developed countries, 5,000 PhD-degree holders per year
were required. It is clear that if the Colombian State does
not decide to bet on Science and Technology as one of its
priorities, the country will continue to be behind and in the
shadow of world development, far below the standards of
countries such as Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Venezuela, and
Cuba.
References
[1] J. Charum, “La construcción de un sistema nacional de indexación,
el caso de publindex,” Convergencia. Revista de Ciencias Sociales,
vol. 11, no. 35, May-Aug. 2004. [Online]. Available: https://www.
redalyc.org/pdf/105/10503511.pdf
[2] E. F. Polcuch, A. Bello, and L. Massarani. (2016) Políticas públicas
e instrumentospara el desarrollo de la culturacientífica en américa
latina. [Ebrary version]. [Online]. [Online]. Available: https://unesdoc.
unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000245206
[3] C. Humphrey, “What is going on? the sustainability of accounting
academia,” Critical Perspectives on Accounting, vol. 26, Feb. 2015.
[Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpa.2014.09.008
[4] Gasto en investigación y desarrollo (la Organización de las Naciones
Unidas para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura (UNESCO). Accessed
Dec. 01, 2023. [Online]. Available: https://datos.bancomundial.org/
indicator/GB.XPD.RSDV.GD.ZS?end=2021&start=1996&view=chart
[5] L. Mendivil-Anaya. Ciencia y tecnología, perspectiva para colombia.
Accessed Dec. 01, 2023. [Online]. Available: https://publicacionesfac.
com/index.php/cienciaypoderaereo/article/view/57/144
Maryory Astrid Gómez Botero
Editor-in-Chief
Revista Facultad de Ingeniería -redin-
Professor-Universidad de Antioquia
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9685-3080
http://www.redalyc.org/autor.oa?id=8587
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=U_2Xx_
cAAAAJ&hl=es
technology described by the RAND reports, including the
areas of biotechnology, nanotechnology, materials, and
information technologies. In order to determine such
barriers, the study calculated in terms of percentages
both the barriers to uses and the driving forces behind
them, where ”scientifically advanced” countries such as
Germany and Canada have 30% barriers and 100% driving
forces. Meanwhile, the United States has 40% barriers and
100% forces. Likewise, Australia, Japan and Korea, with
30% and 90%. Finally, Israel, which has 40% barriers and
90% driving forces. A special case in this perspective is
China, which, despite having 70% barriers, has more than
50% opportunities. The study shows that the barriers in
Colombia are at 70% while the driving forces are at 10% [5].
To understand the reason for this situation, in a historical
review, in Colombia, in 1990, the National System of
Science and Technology was institutionalized where
the central body was Colciencias, acting as Technical
Secretariat. In its investment budget, Colciencias
accumulated an investment of $299,877.3 million in
Colombian pesos between 2001 and 2004, and $87,266
million for 2005. Additionally, the first PhD was granted in
the country in 1994, and it was only until 2005 when there
were more than 160 PhD-degree holders. However, the
increase was slow, because to match the pace of the most
developed countries, 5,000 PhD-degree holders per year
were required. It is clear that if the Colombian State does
not decide to bet on Science and Technology as one of its
priorities, the country will continue to be behind and in the
shadow of world development, far below the standards of
countries such as Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Venezuela, and
Cuba.
References
[1] J. Charum, “La construcción de un sistema nacional de indexación,
el caso de publindex,” Convergencia. Revista de Ciencias Sociales,
vol. 11, no. 35, May-Aug. 2004. [Online]. Available: https://www.
redalyc.org/pdf/105/10503511.pdf
[2] E. F. Polcuch, A. Bello, and L. Massarani. (2016) Políticas públicas
e instrumentospara el desarrollo de la culturacientífica en américa
latina. [Ebrary version]. [Online]. [Online]. Available: https://unesdoc.
unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000245206
[3] C. Humphrey, “What is going on? the sustainability of accounting
academia,” Critical Perspectives on Accounting, vol. 26, Feb. 2015.
[Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpa.2014.09.008
[4] Gasto en investigación y desarrollo (la Organización de las Naciones
Unidas para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura (UNESCO). Accessed
Dec. 01, 2023. [Online]. Available: https://datos.bancomundial.org/
indicator/GB.XPD.RSDV.GD.ZS?end=2021&start=1996&view=chart
[5] L. Mendivil-Anaya. Ciencia y tecnología, perspectiva para colombia.
Accessed Dec. 01, 2023. [Online]. Available: https://publicacionesfac.
com/index.php/cienciaypoderaereo/article/view/57/144
Maryory Astrid Gómez Botero
Editor-in-Chief
Revista Facultad de Ingeniería -redin-
Professor-Universidad de Antioquia
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9685-3080
http://www.redalyc.org/autor.oa?id=8587
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=U_2Xx_
cAAAAJ&hl=es