Scientific journals on Education in Spain: evolution and prospects for the future

Abstract

The Spanish scientific journals on education have experience an exponential growth in recent decades. The reasons are closely related to the supranational policies of university quality assessment, with specific emphasis on research output with "impact". This way, in just twenty years, Spanish journals have become, in detriment of books, in the main channel of communication of the also increasing educational research. In an extremely competitive global context, dominated by Anglo-Saxon culture, the Spanish journals have made a significant improvement in the quality of editorial management processes, in accordance with international quality indicators. However, access to the most recognized indexing, such as Web of Science or Scopus, and especially competing in impact factor (number of citations), is a mission almost impossible for our journals.

This article focuses, on the one hand, on the evolution of the Spanish educational journals, the analysis of its growth and its international presence. On the other hand, quality indicators and the indexing that categorize journals, both nationally and globally, as well as its problems and limitations, are discussed. It is a descriptive study that analyzes indicators and classifications of various selective data bases consulted through documentary and digital sources.

Finally, it presents a prediction of the short term evolution of impact metrics (altrimetrics) and how they should be addressed. It also discusses the importance of establishing government policies on the assessment of research that are transparent and in accordance with the area where there is a need to combine our scientific production in Spanish and international journals.