From 27th to 30th November I was incorporated as an evaluator for the Accreditation Council for Educational Programs on the Humanities (COAPEHUM), as I conducted the evaluation of the Librarianship and Information Studies bachelor’s program at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.
Author: Juantífico
Full-time professor and researcher at the Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua (UACH) in Mexico and member of the National Researchers System. PhD in Information and Communication Science (Tallinn University, Estonia), Master in Digital Library Learning (Oslo University College, Norway; Tallinn University; and Parma University, Italy), and Bachelor in Library Science (Universidad Central de Venezuela). He has more than 18 years of work experience in archives, libraries, higher education, and professional development. He has excelled in different roles: cataloguer, database developer, reference librarian, instructor, collection developer, designer of library promotion materials and multimedia resources, coordinator of information literacy programs in higher education institutions, scientific production analyst, consultant, and peer reviewer for scientific journals. His lines of research include: informational literacy, action research, evaluation of scientific production and bibliometrics, open access, information architecture, and digital libraries. He has published over 50 peer-reviewed and indexed articles, five books, 15 book chapters, has presented his papers in over 54 international conferences and has facilitated over 16 workshops for training researchers. Among his editorial experiences, Machin-Mastromatteo is the Associate Editor for the scientific journals Information Development (SAGE) and Digital Library Perspectives (Emerald), as well as an editorial board member for The Journal of Academic Librarianship (Elsevier). He published, from 2015 to 2020, the regular column Developing Latin America in Information Development. He is a peer reviewer for 17 scientific and indexed journals within the fields of information science and education, for which he has evaluated over 200 manuscripts. Follow me at @judamasmas | www.youtube.com/juantifico | www.facebook.com/machinmastromatteo | www.instagram.com/juantifico | http://judamasmas.com | www.patreon.com/juantifico | https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4884-0474
No need for explanation
Time for a meme!
Tips and tricks to access and use academic databases
One of the results from my Editing for Publication course, proud of my students! They presented a conference about the course’s topics from the English Language Bachelor Program, which they presented at the XL Humanism Week, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras de la Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua.
Publons: Peer Review Week 2018
Within #PeerReviewWeek18, for the third year in a row, Publons has awarded my peer review work in scientific journals, as I am positioned within the 1% top reviewers in the world within my fields.
Check it out https://publons.com/author/704567/juan-d-machin-mastromatteo#profile
Editing for publication
My new course is in English and for Licenciatura en Lengua Inglesa UACH, enroll now! Students from other bachelor programs in our Faculty are also most welcome to join, especially from Ciencias de la Información – UACH.
Analysis of Institutional Competitiveness of Junior High Schools through the Admission Test to High School Education
Abstract: This descriptive and correlational research studies 15,658 students from 335 secondary schools in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, through the results of the examination of admission to high school education (National High School Admission Test – EXANI I from the National Assessment Center for Education – CENEVAL) on logical-mathematical and verbal reasoning, mathematics and Spanish, comparing along the variables of sex, system (public or private), type of school of origin (there are seven types) and ranking of grades, with which, the main objective is to identify levels of institutional competitiveness. The main findings of the research were: (i) private schools, in comparison with public ones, showed percentages of more favorable grades (60.54 and 43.58 respectively); (ii) influence of the academic average of the students in the result of the examination of admission (correlation of .0403; (iii) greater competence in the area of verbal reasoning (56.47) compared to logical-mathematical reasoning (55.69); and (iv) the identification of a small number of secondary schools considered as having sufficient institutional competitiveness (11 schools, equivalent to 3.28% of the total).
Full-text in Journal of New Approaches in Educational Research
This article was published in an Open Access journal!
Recommended reference: Armendáriz, J, Tarango, J., and Machin-Mastromatteo, J. D. (2018). Analysis of Institutional Competitiveness of Junior High Schools through the Admission Test to High School Education. Journal of New Approaches in Educational Research, 7 (1), 52-60. https://doi.org/10.7821/naer.2018.1.259
Latin American academic and research Think Tanks: Characterization of a model and its presence in the region
Our second article of the year #WeAreOnFire, where we perform a regional diagnostic of the Latin American institutions that can be considered as academic and research think tanks.
Abstract: This article presents a general overview of the Think Tank model, including its conceptualization and main types. Then, it focuses on the academic and research Think Tanks that are located in Latin America, by identifying the existing ones per country, presenting their tendencies and by analyzing them from the perspective of their organizational, financial, informational, educational, technical, human capital and knowledge generation resources. This contribution also identifies Latin American academic and research Think Tanks’ competitive advantages and their differences from traditional educational models.
Full text at Sage Publications
Recomended reference: Tarango, J., Delgado, R., & Machin-Mastromatteo, J.D. (2019). Latin American academic and research Think Tanks: Characterization of a model and its presence in the region. Information Development, 35(1), 165–170.
Recovering troubled cities through public spaces and libraries: The Caracas Metropolitan Strategic Plan 2020
Together with my fellow contryman, Renny Granda, public libraries’ own knight, we published the third part of the Caracas Trilogy (see first part and second part), where we invite you to reflect upon the question: could public spaces and libraries help us reducing violence in Latin American cities?
Abstract: The Caracas Metropolitan Strategic Plan 2020 (CMSP2020) is an instance of urban and environmental planning that seeks to construct a collective ‘city pact’ for Caracas, currently among the most troubled and violent cities in Latin America. Its main idea is to recover the city through the rescue of its public spaces, by centering on six strategic axes for transforming Caracas: accessibility and mobility; public safety, public spaces and housing improvement; environmental sustainability; productivity and entrepreneurship; governability; and the development of a constructive and responsible citizenship. This model, partly inspired by Medellin’s Library Parks, may be useful for other large cities in the region that suffer similar socio-political fractures, as well as accessibility, mobility, environmental, productive, governance and safety issues.
Open Access version (Coming soon!)
Recommended reference: Granda, R., and Machin-Mastromatteo, J. D. (2018). Recovering troubled cities through public spaces and libraries: The Caracas Metropolitan Strategic Plan 2020. Information Development, 34(1), 103–107. http://doi.org/10.1177/0266666917741069
Latin American triple-A journals 1: A quality roadmap from the quality indicators and journals’ presence in Web of Science and Scopus
The new Developing Latin America, co-authored with Javier Tarango and Eduardo Medina-Yllescas is out. In this issue, we analyze the current presence of Latin American journals in Web of Science and Scopus, as the first part of a quality roadmap intended to strengthen regional publications, especially those that have started as institutional publications. Dedicated to the loving memory of Cristobal Salvador Gómez Contreras (1992-2017).
Abstract: The current presence of Latin American journals in Web of Science and Scopus is analyzed, as the first part of a quality roadmap intended to strengthen regional publications, especially those that have started as institutional publications. The next issue will study the quality requirements and journals’ presence in other recognized indexes and platforms such as Scimago Journal and Country Rank, the Directory of Open Access Journals, Latindex, SciELO, and RedALyC.
Recommended reference: Machin-Mastromatteo, J. D., Tarango, J., and Medina-Yllescas, E. (2017). Latin American triple-A journals 1: A quality roadmap from the quality indicators and journals’ presence in Web of Science and Scopus. Information Development, 33(4), 436-441. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0266666917718138
Subordinated Complacency, Ferocious Rivalry, or Equitable Work: On the Independence and Separation of State Powers
Now in #OpenAccess, 2017’s ‘On the Independence and Separation of State Powers’, written with Basilio A. Martínez-Villa. Original English version: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3466595
Abstract: This article presents three deviations from the Separation of Powers Principle (trias politica) as they have taken place in Mexico and Venezuela: the increment in the amount of state powers, the subordination of powers to the agenda of a unique political tendency with the subsequent nullification of the power that is acting in an independent way, and the creation of constitutional autonomous institutes or entities. It suggests that governments can become complex self-referential systems that avoid public consultation of political decisions and the free formation of citizens’ informed and educated opinions that are much needed for a country’s development in a democracy.
Full text at Sage Publications
Suggested citation: Machin-Mastromatteo, J.D., & Martinez-Villa, B.A. (2017). Subordinated complacency, ferocious rivalry, or equitable work: On the independence and separation of State powers, Information Development, 33(2), 210-218. https://doi.org/10.1177/0266666916688296
Juantífico 