Search

After its institutionalisation during the early 1970s through the creation of the first faculties of Communication Sciences, Spanish communication research consolidates as a disciplinary field in the 1990s. During this period, the increasing number of universities degrees on communication studies led to an exponential growth of the academic community and, so, of the scientific production in the field. The enormous efforts of meta-research carried out in the last decade, specially focused on the study of peer-reviewed journals, and to lesser extent of PhD theses, have allowed the reconstruction of some relevant aspects of the current communication research in Spain. Nevertheless, these studies have not considered sufficiently those elements which would allow to identify the general epistemological orientation followed by the scientific activity in the field of communication. This paper intends to contribute to this research line. For this purpose, a content analysis has been applied to a sample of 1098 papers published between 1990 and 2014 by six major peer-reviewed communication journals, in order to observe the evolution of the objects of study and the methodological procedures in Spanish communication research during this period. The results show a progressive diversification of the objects of study, the pre-eminence of the studies on media content, a growing neglect of the institutional dimension of the media system (companies, professionals, markets, public policies, etc.), a decreasing interest on theoretical research, a gradual improvement of the methodological standards of empirical research, and a growing dominance of quantitative research, specially by means of content analysis applied to media documents (news, advertisements, television series, etc.). The observed trends are put for discussion considering the consequences that could have be generated on Spanish communication research by the changes of the media system (the growth of the communication sector, the advent of digitalization, etc.) and by the updated institutional context (the autonomy of university degrees in communication studies, the implementation of the Academia teaching acreditation programme) on which scientific activity has deveolped over the past 25 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

Copyright of El Profesional de la Información is the property of EPI SCP and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)