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The institutional framework supporting Spanish Communication research has changed radically over the past 30 years, affecting the internal structure of the academic community and the characteristics of scientific production in this field. This paper reconstructs that process by attending to four factors: the increase since the early 1990s in universities offering Communication studies; the establishment of three distinct Communication degree programmes (1991); the deployment and consolidation of a culture of evaluation of research activity (1989-2008); and the recognition of Communication as a specific area in the National RD&I Plan (2010). Such institutional changes have had a significant impact on the structure of the scientific community (exponential growth, incorporation of women, growing internationalisation, etc.) and the general direction of scientific production (publication formats, collaborative research, methodological quality, etc.). The various identified indicators showed a turning point in Spanish Communication research in the mid-2000s, situating it within parameters that differed considerably from those of the previous period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. Over the past 25 years, the number of communication researchers in Spain has doubled, and has probably modified some of its characteristics and research practices. Objectives and method. This paper analyses the transformation experienced by this scientific community using as an indicator the evolution of authorship patterns (gender distribution of authors, number of authors, university, etc.) in Spanish communication research. Data were collected from a sample of 1000 articles published between 1990 and 2014 by five peer-reviewed journals edited in Spain. Results and conclusions. The results show the growth of the presence of women in the research activity, the increase in the number of universities of the signing authors, the modest contribution of authors affiliated to private universities, and the progressive consolidation of the research developed by the collaboration of multiple authors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]