La revista Cuadernos de Sociología de la Universidad Santo Tomás (Bogotá, Colombia, 1977-2011)

Abstract

The first issue of the journal Cuadernos de Sociología of the School of Sociology of Universidad Santo Tomás appeared in 1977. The journal was published uninterruptedly until 2011, except in 1996, 1997, and 1998. On the basis of the case study methodology, preceded by archival and document recovery work, we systematized the journal’s information, generating a database with 592 entries, which facilitated the analysis of the contents of the documents. In order to complete the collection of information, an in-depth interview was carried out with the journal’s founder, Guillermo Páez Morales. As a result of the research, information was obtained regarding the context and motivations leading to the founding of the journal, its development (published reflections, events, authors, and topics addressed), and the circumstances causing the end of its publication. The article highlights the high female participation in both writing articles and the editorial process. Over half of the articles published are reflection articles focused on anthropological and philosophical aspects, political perspectives, theoretical reflections, disciplinary reflections, or in-depth analysis of pressing issues. There is a thematic emphasis on political sociology, urban sociology, the armed conflict, sociology of the family, and cultural studies. As part of the conclusions, the article points out the importance of the journal as a tool for the creation of an academic community; its focus on dissemination, reflected in the predominance of reflection articles, particularly on sociology as a social science; the pertinence of in-depth research on the journal’s contents through a hermeneutical analysis, in order to draw parallelisms between them and the process of institutionalization of sociology in Colombia; the relevance of this journal and other already disappeared ones for doing “sociology of sociology”. Finally, it suggests that the dynamism, creativity, and spontaneity that have always characterized Colombian sociology should be recovered in both publications and research processes. Keywords: academia, bibliometrics, Colombia, scientific journals, social sciences, sociology. Descriptors: case study, Colombia, institutionalization, scientific journal, sociology of sociology.