| dc.description.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. | |
