The Latin American Journal of of Astronomy Education (RELEA): contributions and perspectives

Abstract

The goal of this work is to present an analysis of articles published by the Latin American Journal of Astronomy Education (RELEA) since its beginning (2004) to the present. We analyzed the 59 articles available on the website of the journal (http://www.relea.ufscar.br), published in 15 issues. The articles were classified by: year of publication, issue, author’s institutions, grade level, focus of the study and content. The results show that the number of articles is still small - although the journal has been initially qualified as B3 within the Journal Ranking scheme Qualis CAPES and in the latest ranking (current) advanced to the concept B1 in the Qualis, it is too early to expect an increase in the number of articles submitted. Among the main factors for the relatively low number of articles we can mention that the initially nominated Editorial Board did not succeed in a proper dissemination of the journal and call for papers, the ongoing absence of a “critical mass” of astronomy education researchers and the lack of publishing tradition in the area. Important aspects of the writing of articles submitted are also discussed, such as refereeing, acceptance rate of articles, participation of authors from countries other than Brazil and theoretical and methodological frameworks, as well as the recent editorial restructuration of the international Editorial Board of the RELEA and the nomination of Associate Editors from Brazil. Concluding, it is possible to note the contribution to the field up to the moment through citations in other works in the field. However, it is necessary to advance with regard to: publishing more articles, articles from greater variety of Latin American countries, training of the community for a minimum quality of the writing of articles submitted for publication in a journal aimed at education research. In this sense, additional analyses of the published papers would be desirable. Finally, it is pointed out the need for greater dissemination of the journal to increase the number of submissions, encouraging the diversification of contents and methods and increase the participation of authors in general and from Latin America in particular, aiming to greater academic contribution for astronomy education at various levels and places.