Communication of Science in Colombia

Features

Diego Pineda the Colombian Observatory of Science and tion. Technology (OCyT)—which produces sta- • Public resistance or lack of interest. They were known as the wise men. In tistics, indicators, documents, articles, and • Lack of specialized journalists. 1993, the wise men—a group of renowned other elements of information and analysis • The small amount of science generated Colombian scientists, intellectuals, and of the scientific and technologic activity in in Colombia. politicians—were appointed by then Colombia (www.ocyt.org.co)—about 4000 Colombian president, Cesar Gaviria, to publications per year are being produced In a document issued by the Colombian evaluate the state of science and tech- by Colombian researchers (according to Association of Science Journalism nology in Colombia and propose strate- COLCIENCIAS, there are 7979 research- (Asociación Colombiana de Periodismo gies for their development. The Science, ers in Colombia). That is 50% of the Científico, ACPC), Colombian science Education and Development Commission, number of publications proposed by the journalist Lisbeth Fog4 lists the reasons as the group was officially called, wrote in Commission.2 why Colombian citizens feel that science its final report in 1995: “You can see it as you like: The cup and technology are not important national is half full or half empty”, says José Luis activities: While developed countries, with just Villaveces, director of OCyT. “I believe • Information published by the mass media 23% of the human population, lead in that the fact that Colombian scientists is related mainly to results and discover- the generation, transfer and commer- increased the volume of the cup in the ies made by scientists in the developed cialization of technology, stimulate horrible last five years is a heroic act.” world. scientific innovation and have 94% of The country is engaged in a dreadful • People do not receive appropriate and the world’s scientists, Latin America war between rebel groups and the govern- current information about Colombian contributes only 1% of scientists, of ment and has high rates of unemployment. science and technology developments. whom only 1% are Colombians. In Scientists have found it hard to communi- • The few Colombian science journalists industrialized countries one scientific cate their work. However, efforts of sci- must also cover topics other than sci- paper is produced for every 10 million entific institutions and science journalists ence. dollars of GNP per year. With a GNP have resulted in more and better publica- • It is difficult to get editorial support for of 91,000 million dollars, in the year tions on science and technology. science news: science journalists do not 2000 Colombian production should Colombian scientists have expressed have enough time to report, and when reach a total of 9,100 high level pub- some of the difficulties in communication they do have the time, it is difficult for lications per year to contribute to the of science in their country:3 them to get enough space to publish advancement of scientific knowledge. their articles. But the current number is much lower, • Lack of Colombia-based journals and • There is a communication gap between because Colombian scientists publish popular magazines on science. scientists and journalists. only 1% of the scientific papers pro- • Researchers’ preference for publishing out- • Only four Colombian universities have duced in Latin America.1 side the country; the country other than “science journalism” as part of their Colombia where the most Colombians undergraduate journalism programs According to a study conducted publish papers is the United States (more (people can study journalism in more by the Colombian Institute for the than 800 papers from 1996 to 2000, for an than 40 institutions in the country), and Development of Science and Technology average of 165 per year), followed by the there is no graduate program in science (COLCIENCIAS)—the national institute UK (about 420 papers, for an average of journalism in Colombia. that promotes science and technology 84 per year), the Netherlands, Germany, • Journalists are not properly trained for research (www.colciencias.gov.co)—and Spain, and Brazil. face-to-face contact with science and • The complexity of scientific language scientists. DIEGO PINEDA is a graduate student in science and the fact that English is the interna- and technology journalism at Texas A&M tional language of science (many terms Despite those difficulties, the recom- University. He has a bachelor’s degree in do not have Spanish equivalents). mendations of the wise men have had social communication and journalism from • Indifference of many Colombian scien- a good effect. Villaveces observes that Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Medellin, tists about communicating their work. the quality of Colombian science jour- Colombia. • Low investment in science communica- nals has improved since 1995, when

Science Editor • May - June 2003 • Vol 26 • No 3 • 91 Features Colombia continued

COLCIENCIAS began to classify them. In 2001, 150 journals were classified in Number of Colombian Publications Listed in three categories (A, B, and C), according Science Citation Index to their scientific quality, editorial quality, visibility, and stability. Four journals were in category A, which has criteria similar to those for inclusion in the Science Citation Index. “There are many indications”, Villaveces says, “that there is a movement of researchers in Colombia toward increasing the quantity and quality of their work.” The number and quality of scientific publications in Colombia have increased in the last decade (see Figure). Several fac- tors appear to be responsible. Since 1992, the government has tied the salary of public universities’ professors to the number of Source: Sistema Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (Colombia), Comité del convenio 016 – 95 celebrado entre their publications. Financial resources for COLCIENCIAS, ICETEX y LASPAU. Boston: September 26, 2002 research increased in 1993 when Colombia received a loan from the Inter-American public. The association gives courses, con- Development Bank. From 1992 to 1997, ferences, workshops, and seminars all over It seems that now it is the turn for COLCIENCIAS granted 608 scholar- the country for journalists, scientists, and Colombian science writers and editors to ships for Colombians to obtain doctorates students on how to communicate sci- be the wise men (and women!). abroad. Many of the recipients returned ence. ACPC’s president, Lisbeth Fog, has with the motivation to write. “Something a master’s degree in science journalism References that didn’t exist when the Commission from Boston University. The Colombian 1. COLCIENCIAS. Informe conjunto: Colombia: wrote its report—between 1993 and Association for the Advancement of al filo de la oportunidad [Joint report: Colombia: at 1994—today is a reality: doctorates in Science gave ACPC the 2002 Award for the edge of opportunity]. Bogotá: COLCIENCIAS, Colombia”, Villaveces says. “The first per- Scientific Merit in the category of science 1995. p 72. son to obtain a PhD in Colombia did it in communication. 2. Barómetro No 5, internal bulletin of the OCyT, 1994, in chemistry from the Universidad Villaveces is optimistic about the growth December 2000. Nacional in Bogotá. Since then about 100 of science communication in Colombia. 3. Pineda D. Proposal for an E-magazine of sci- have obtained it, and each one has pub- He says, “if the economy and security ence journalism (undergraduate thesis). Medellin: lished an average of three articles in top of the country improve, but most of all, Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, 2001. international journals.” if journalists tell us more about what is 4 Fog L. Project to create a science and technol- In addition to government efforts to being done [in science], besides informing ogy news agency, Colombian Association of Science stimulate researchers to communicate their us about violence and soccer games, this Journalism. Personal copy. work, ACPC is trying to reach the general could grow really fast.”

92 • Science Editor • May - June 2003 • Vol 26 • No 3