Abstract — Inglés
Marisol Florén presents a rather disheartening assessment of scientific and technological research in the Dominican Republic today. In fact, very little research is being carried out, and its contribution to mainstream scientific knowledge remains negligible. The years of the 1970s seemed the most promising and productive for research, due to a combination of positive factors, such as political stability, strong economic growth, the availability of well–trained professionals, and the creation of new educational and cultural institutions, including the zoo, botanical gardens, and national museums. However, this level of scientific productivity was not sustained, perhaps because of inadequate resources and funding or lack of national coordination.
Florén’s study shows current research in the Dominican Republic to be fragmented, with no integration between scientific and applied research; heavily dependent on foreign collaboration and individual interests; and completely unrelated to industry needs on a practical level or to national goals and objectives on a policy level. As a result, publications and information flow are also sporadic, weak, disorganized, and ineffective. The author offers some generalizations on information use, based on data from the medical field. In particular, she notes the heavy use of “grey literature,” and area of notoriously poor bibliographic control. Dissemination of research findings takes place more frequently through the researcher’s own personal channels of communication than through journals, most of which are in existence for only a short while, and suffer from a lack of institutional commitment and funding as well as from poor standards of quality.
Abstract — Español
Un visión general de la investigación científica y tecnológica en la República Dominicana
Marisol Florén presenta una evaluación desalentadora de la investigación científica y tecnológica en la República Dominicana hoy en día. En efecto, muy poca investigación se lleva a cabo, y su contribución al conocimiento científico dominante permanence negligible. En los años de 1970 parecía más promisorio y productivo el panorama de la investigación de la República Dominicana, dada la combinación de factores positivos tales como la estabilidad política, un crecimiento económico fuerte, la existencia de profesionales bien capacitados, y la creación de nuevas instituciones educativas y culturales incluyendo el Zoológico, los Jardines Botánicos, y Museos Nacionales.
Sin embargo, este nivel de productividad científica no fue sostenido, quizá por los recursos inadecuados y la falta de fondos o la falta de coordinación nacional. El estudio de Florén muestra la productividad científica actual en la República Dominicana la que prueba estar fragmentada, sin integración entre la investigación científica y la investigación aplicada, muestra gran dependencia sobre la colaboración extranjera, y de los intereses individuales y completamente sin relación a las necesidades de la industria o a los niveles prácticos de los objetivos de la política nacional. Como resultado, el flujo de las publicaciones y de la información es esporádico, débil, desorganizado e inefectivo.
Florén ofrece algunas generalizaciones sobre el uso de la información, basado sobre datos del campo médico. En particular, ella nota un uso fuerte de la literature gris, una área notablemente pobre del control bibliográfico. La diseminación de la investigación toma lugar más frecuentemente en las redes personales de los investigadores que a través de la comunicación por medio de revistas, las que en su mayoría existan solo por poco tiempo y sufren de la falta de compromiso institucional y del apoyo así como carecen de normas, las cuales cuando existan son de calidad precaria.
Science and technology are not research priorities in the Dominican Republic. The volume of scientific and technological research is very small—only 13 percent of the national output. Technology and basic science are almost non–existent. The contribution of the Dominican Republic to mainstream scientific knowledge is very small in comparison with other Latin American countries.
Analysis shows that the decade from 1970 to 1979 was the most productive period for scientific research. Several factors seem to have contributed to this output. One factor was the gathering of a critical mass of qualified human resources. Massive training programs had been put into operation in the previous decade as a consequence of changing political conditions after the close of a dictatorship which had lasted 30 years. At the beginning of the 1970s the country saw the return of groups of young professionals who had studied abroad, mainly in Europe. It was also a period of strong economic growth, due to favorable conditions for Dominican products in the world market, an increase in the process of industrialization, and high rate of urbanization. Political stability contributed to creating conditions favorable to transforming the country into a modern economy. Finally, it was a period of educational and cultural growth. The number of universities increased from one in 1960 to five at the end of 1979. Cultural institutions were founded, such as the Museum of Dominican Man, the Museum of Natural History, the Botanical Gardens, the National Zoo, and the National Library. These institutions developed their own research units, journals, and other publications. All of these factors helped to stimulate an environment for scientific research.
Patters of publication vary, depending on whether scientists publish outside or inside the country. Outside the country, publication is mainly in medicine (63 percent of the output), while inside the country agriculture is the leading field (35 percent), followed by medicine(25 percent). These differences are not surprising, since agriculture tends to be a discipline of more local interest than medicine. When publishing outside the Dominican Republic, scientists wrote overwhelmingly in English and publish mainly in the United States (64 percent) and the United Kingdom (14 percent); very little is published in other Latin American countries (four percent). The tendency to publish in low impact journals makes Dominican science less visible. There is a high degree of collaboration with foreign institutions, mainly in the United States.
For a small country, the number of research units is high (37 in total), but research communities are small and isolated. There seems not to be a strong association between the research being done and what is published. Research institutions, such as the Institute of Biomedical Studies at the Pedro Henríquez Ureña National University (UNPHU), the Center for Experimental and Human Biology at the Pontifical Catholic University Madre y Maestra (UCMM), the Institute for Bilharzia of the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD), and the Center for Research in Infant and Maternal Health (CENISMI) do not report heavily on their activities. [1] Research in the country is also much influenced by external interests of collaborating institutions abroad.
The hospitals are the leading institutions for scientific research, followed by the universities. Since the former are government institutions, most research is being done in this sector. It is common for research to be performed at hospitals in collaboration with universities, due to the phenomenon of joint appointments. Nevertheless, there is little integration between the scientific research being done and the learning process at the universities. [2] Technological research, on the other hand, is done at the universities, with no connection to the process of industrialization. Research appears not to be strongly connected to national goals and objectives for integrated national development. Although many research topics are local in focus (e.g., contraception, infectious diseases, botany), this seemed to result from the work of a few individuals.
Analysis of information sources in the medical field shows that, as expected, journals are used more than books, but there is also a high use made of conference papers, theses, technical reports, and publications of international organizations. This means that “grey literature” is an important means of scientific communication. Dominican physicians use sources mainly in English, but they also cite Latin American sources, mainly from Mexico and Argentina; they do not draw upon the number of quality journals that authors from more advanced countries use. As Velho affirms, [3] scientists in developing countries do not have much choice among available resources.
Very little dissemination of research occurs outside the researcher’s own personal communication system, mainly because journals lacking institutional commitment have a short life span. The low impact of the national journals can be attributed to the fact that there are neither norms that rule the quality of research not policies and resources that can support bibliographic control of the national production. The major motivation for publication in the biomedical field is the need to fulfill a requirement for employment. [4] Hospitals, which are doing the most research, have very poor information services. [5] Only books and some journal titles receive any bibliographic control; unconventional materials tend to circulate through informal channels of communication.
In conclusion, although there are small research communities in the Dominican Republic, there is a lack of national commitment toward scientific research. The number of research units, the volume of research output, and the lack of adequate information services raise doubts about the level of research being done. National scientific journals need to be strengthened in order to attract contributions of higher quality. The scientific communities also need to be strengthened by being reduced in number but made more productive. They need to be supported by better information systems and services.
(This is a summary of a longer, unpublished study, “Scientific and Technological Research in the Dominican Republic,” prepared for a doctoral seminar, University of Illinois, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, April 1992.)
1. Pura Guzmán and Roland Bodden, “La investigación en el sector salud: diagnóstico, prioridades y estrategias para el desarrollo en la República Dominicana,” in: Primer taller sobre prioridades y estrategias de investigación en salud, Guatemala (Santo Domingo: ONAPLAN, SESPAS, OPS/OMS, 1986).
2. Lucero Arboleda de Rosa and Rosario Guzmán de Pezzotti, “Diseminación de información biomédica: otra estrategia al servicio de la generación de nuevo conocimiento,” in: Seminario taller presente y futuro de la investigación biomédica en la República Dominicana (Santo Domingo, 1990).
3. Lea Velho, “The Meaning of Citation in the Context of a Scientifically Peripheral Country,” Scientometrics 9 (1986): 71–89.
4. Manuel de Jesús Roa Santana and Lucero Arboleda de Roa, Publicaciones periódicas médicas en la República Dominicana (Santo Domingo, 1988).
5. Arboleda de Roa and Guzmán, op. cit.
Marisol Florén is a doctoral student at the University of Illinois, Urbana, and former Director of the Library at the Universidad Central del Este, San Pedro de Macorís, Dominican Republic.
© 1992 Dominican University
Citation
Florén, Marisol, “An Overview of Scientific and Technological Research in the Dominican Republic” Third World Libraries, Volume 3, Number 1 (Fall 1992).
References