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Objective/Context: This paper studies the role of the Chilean state during the great drought of 1967-1969 as a mediator between human beings and nature. Institutional adaptations and the effort to improve the infrastructure were elements of continuity with respect to previous droughts, but there were novelties as well, such as attempts to pursue weather modification and the artificial melting of glaciers. The support of technologies and scientists operating from peripheral state institutions was essential for these purposes. All the above took place in the context of the Cold War when the predominant environmental imaginaries made human intervention look favorable and necessary for the modernization of countries. Methodology: Diverse primary sources were used, such as ministerial documents, decrees, bulletins, and reports of different state institutions that allowed understanding the logic of state management during the water crisis. Similarly, research in national and international press helped identify how imaginaries about the environment were expressed and disseminated publicly, which tended to validate novel efforts to control nature. Originality: This is an original study for Latin America, which addresses the early appearance of science and technology in the efforts of what today would be known as geoengineering: mainly through the observation of new actors, which expanded the traditional forms of mediation between humans and nature, led by the state, concerning climate crises. Conclusions: In the 1960s, optimism grew for the human capacity to control and manipulate water resources by appealing to ways other than those previously known, associated with infrastructure development. Expert knowledge was placed at the service of peripheral institutions of the state to promote these changes with lasting consequences. The human desire to control nature at all costs was validated, which helps explain the temporal projection of experiments with artificial rain and glacier control to the present day in Chile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evolution in scientific production and collaboration of Venezuela is discussed, identified as a country that has been characterized by the loss of leadership in recent years. The universe of analysis is composed by 1.117 Ibero American open access journals indexed by the database redalyc.org with over 250.000 articles in a period of 10 years (2005-2014). The fall of Venezuelan science is seen from mainstream science databases (in Scopus, through SJR, it showed 1.857 papers in 2005 that represented 3,4% of the region. In 2014 it had 1.592 papers, that accounted for 1,44% of the region. That is, it had a drop of -14,27%) and from Redalyc (which it had 875 articles in 2005 that they accounted for 5,5% of the region; in 2014 had 791 articles, which represented 3.0% of the region. So, it fell -9,6%); this database allows further appreciation about a high rate of concentration in the scientific and editorial production of Venezuela, as well as an endogenous behavior in terms of production and collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents an editorial in which the author discusses research communication and output within the scientific community. He comments on the use of scientometric indicators to determine the output of research papers submitted to journals and describes the growth of such research papers in Latin America.

Abstract: Although the number of science and engineering (S&E) publications produced in Latin America grew exponentially over the past 15 years, the investment in science and the number of full time researchers did not grow at a comparable rate. Moreover, Latin American science is handicapped by constrained resources and access to information, higher costs of research, English-language barriers and brain-drain. One possible explanation for the observed rise in paper numbers, therefore, is that Latin American scientists have increased production, perhaps at the cost of quality. As an alternative, Latin America authors may have increased production while maintaining quality (e.g., through creativity, intense work and enhancement of international cooperation). Our aim is to verify which of these interpretations best applies for the field of comparative biochemistry and physiology (CBP). To achieve this goal, we compared the impact indicators of two randomly selected samples of authors (n =20; all with 8 to 30 years of scientific production), one from Latin America and another from developed countries. For additional comparison, we included also a group of twelve highly cited and recognized CBP researchers. We used Hirsch''s indexes (h and m) as main indicators of performance, but compared also classical bibliometric indexes such as total number of citations, total number of papers and the ratio of citation per paper (CpP). The mean of most indexes were not significantly different between the two groups of regular CBP researchers, except for CpP, which was 1.7-fold higher in authors from developed countries. As expected, both groups had mean indicators well below those from the sample of highly cited researchers (average h values for top and regular CBP researchers were 37.3±3.0 and 11.4±0.9, respectively). Considering that Hirsch''s indexes are more suitable indicators of performance than CpP, we conclude that Latin American CBP researchers, despite handicaps, perform similarly to those in developed countries. The forth special issue of Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology (“The Face of Latin American Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology”) celebrates, with 24 new manuscripts from Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Chile, the diversity of biological science in Latin America. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objective: The prevalence and burden of mental disorders have been growing in Latin-American and the Caribbean countries and research is an important tool for changing this scenario. The objective of this paper is to describe the development of mental health research in Latin American and the Caribbean countries from 1995 to 2005. Method: The indicators of productivity were based on the ISI Essential Science Indicators database. We compared the number of papers and citations, as well as the number of citations per paper between 1995 and 2005 for each country ranked in the Essential Science Indicators. Result: Eleven Latin-American countries were ranked in the ISI database and six of them demonstrated a higher level of development in mental health research: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela. Mexico produced the largest number of papers, while Brazil showed a larger number of citations per paper. Conclusion: Mental health research is still incipient in Latin American and the Caribbean countries, and many challenges remain to be overcome. Also, it is necessary to establish the research priorities, to allocate more funding, and to improve researchers training in research method and design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many countries in Latin America have made nanotechnology a development priority in their public policy platforms. The main feature of these public policies is to provide support for nanotechnology research and development, aiming to forge ties between public institutions and universities and the private sector, to boost innovation and competitiveness. These public policies do not take into account the global context of strong capital concentration in which nanotechnologies emerge, and which makes it difficult to be competitive within the framework laid out by these public policies to develop these technologies. This paper analyzes the direction of public policy in the international context, and also suggests policy alternatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Society and culture at the planetary level suffered major transformations during the twentieth century, particularly in the second half, largely because of the impressive degree of scientific and technological development. Forms of economic production also experienced profound changes, so much so that the greatest wealth, from an economic standpoint, now is generated by so-called knowledge-based production systems. The concept of a knowledge society has been forged to refer to these phenomena. Nevertheless, it is a fact that science and technology have brought about major changes, thereby making it urgent to develop strategies to strengthen the culture of science and technology throughout Latin America. The aforementioned concepts are discussed in this paper, along with possible strategies for bolstering the culture of science and technology. The authors also contend that a suitable model for a knowledge society in the Latin American countries should consider their broad and rich cultural diversity, which poses additional challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a general overview of the relationship between education and R&D in Latin America and Costa Rica during the last 30 years. A general introduction to the characteristics and development of science and technology in the region and an overview of the level and progress of educational research are presented. The implications of the education-R&D relationship for the widening of the productivity gap and the digital divide in the context of globalization and the knowledge and information society are analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyzing the evolution of UFR interpretations in Latin America, the paper shows how TH debilitated the interpretation that had been dominant until the end of the 1980s, and how the debate in course between these two present positions tends to progress. By offering a standard for critical analysis of the changes in the explanatory and normative-institutional models of Science and Technology Policy in advanced and peripheric countries, Triple Helix Statement can inform new interpretations more adherent to the democratization scenario that is being constructed in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]