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The objective of this article is to analyze the distinctive characteristics of research production in the field of communication in Latin American scientific communication journals. Meta-research is necessary because it allows re-evaluating the field and offers new horizons in knowledge production. Two studies were conducted: 1) Bibliometric analysis of 116 journals in eight databases and 24 publications in the Web of Science and Scopus; 2) Content analysis including that of 407 articles over a period of 10 years (2009--2018). The findings demonstrate a research trend in the Latin American region toward international standards, evidenced by a preponderance of empirical over essay studies. Universities in the region published most of the journals in the field and circulation was predominantly biannual. Contrary to expectations, the most widely disseminated topic was health communication, partly owing to a large sample of Brazilian journals. Within the empirical research, the qualitative approach was predominant. The interview was the most widely used research method in the region. Finally, the most used theories were agenda setting and framing. Imminent challenges arise, i.e., to strengthen indigenous theoretical production and to position the region's themes and reflection more decisively in knowledge production at a global level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social media have established a new way of communicating and understanding social relationships. At the same time, there are downsides, especially, their use of algorithms that have been built and developed under their umbrella and their potential to alter public opinion. This paper tries to analyse the YouTube recommendation system from the perspectives of reverse engineering and semantic mining. The first result is that, contrary to expectations, the issues do not tend to be extreme from the point of view of polarisation in all cases. Next, and through the study of the selected themes, the results do not offer a clear answer to the proposed hypotheses, since, as has been shown in similar works, the factors that shape the recommendation system are very diverse. In fact, results show that polarising content does not behave in the same way for all the topics analysed, which may indicate the existence of moderators –or corporate actions– that alter the relationship between the variables. Another contribution is the confirmation that we are dealing with non-linear, but potentially systematic, processes. Nevertheless, the present work opens the door to further academic research on the topic to clarify the unknowns about the role of these algorithms in our societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emoticons have become a common phenomenon in email correspondence between students and professors. Even though the use of emoticons in formal writing is considered inappropriate and unprofessional, more and more students are using these nonverbal communication tools to add context or emphasis to their email messages to professors. This paper examines the association between the use of emoticons and professors’ perceptions of higher education students’ email messages with and without emoticons in two countries, Serbia and Slovenia. The students’ emails were collected and assessed on several levels. The students’ messages were examined with particular attention to the appropriateness of the students’ writing style. In addition, the students’ level of digital literacy, their attitude toward a professor, and gender differences in the use of emoticons were examined. Furthermore, an online questionnaire was used to identify characteristic differences between students who use emoticons and students who do not. The results show that messages with emoticons are rated lower on several dimensions than messages without emoticons. In addition, students who use emoticons show lower digital literacy and perceive their professors as more understanding and helpful. Emoticon use is not related to gender. The results suggest that students should avoid using emoticons even if they have a positive attitude toward their professor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]