Publicación científica en acceso abierto: desafíos decoloniales para América Latina

Abstract

Through the concepts of coloniality of power, coloniality of knowledge, coloniality of being and geopolitics and body-politics of knowledge, we reflect on some challenges of Latin American scientific publication in open access. Although Latin America is a pioneer in open access initiatives and in the creation of cooperative regional systems to share knowledge as a common good, the so-called “mainstream” or “international” journals, endorsed by impact factor, continue to be prioritized in the science evaluation and financing systems of most countries in the region. Additionally, open access commodification strategies are becoming ever more pervasive and threaten to subvert some of the initial purposes of the Open Access Movement and create deeper gaps between North and South. Behind these aspects is the naturalization and perpetuation of ontological and epistemic hierarchies and exclusions with undertones of systemic racism that decolonial authors characterize as colonialities. An epistemic disobedience is required, as a decolonial attitude, and a concerted effort at the regional level that transforms evaluation systems, preserves the public and academic nature of science and guarantees equity and social justice