The Revista Interamericana de Psicología/Interamerican Journal of Psychology (RIP/IJP) for 2023 invites the research community to submit contributions related to the theme "The Scientific Production of Psychology in Latin America". Articles can be submitted in the four official languages of SIP (Spanish, English, Portuguese, and French) from March 1, 2023 to October 31, 2023.
Upon analyzing the scientific production of Interamerican psychology, we have observed some imbalances. This was noticed in numerous studies, which show evidence of the generalization of psychological principles based on the centricity of studies in the United States population, only recently expanding to other English-speaking countries, mostly (Arnett, 2008; Henrich et al., 2010; Thalmayer et al., 2021). These have repercussions on Latin America, as a region highly underrepresented in high-impact journals, resulting in a low level of knowledge about the contributions to psychology from this region, as well as the particular characteristics and divergences of the psychology of its inhabitants and the distinctiveness of its methods and conclusions. Consequently, a significant portion of the population, the Latin Americans, is not part of the body of knowledge nor the conclusions published daily in specialized journals around the world, making them an unknown population, or even worse, included in conclusions and characteristics that have not been studied or are underrepresented in samples in these regions.
Producing scientific research in psychology is part of an ongoing debate, with significant implications for individual productivity and real consequences for different assessments and rankings applied to researchers, and for the possibility of obtaining competitive grants and research funds, among other possible repercussions.
The purpose of this proposed special issue is threefold: a) to highlight and evaluate the contribution of psychology generated in Latin America to psychological science in general, and its impact at the local, regional, and global levels; b) to highlight and evaluate the contribution of this scientific production to the understanding of the problems pertaining to the Inter-American socio-economic and cultural context; and c) to problematize and discuss the metrics and ways of conceiving scientific production at the global, regional, and local level in psychology. Additionally, non-Latin-American researchers with relevant research lines or works for this issue and its objectives are invited to participate in this call by submitting their works to be taken into account.
Based on Arnett's (2008) notion of the psychology production of high impact marginalizing 95% of the world's population, which was re-affirmed in a recent review by Thalmayer et al. (2021) reporting the reduced statistic of 89%, this special issue invites researchers to present works related to psychological science’s productivity, focusing on the following guiding themes: a) Analysis of psychology publications (e.g., journals, books, conference proceedings) originating or belonging to Latin American institutions; b) Analysis of psychology publications involving specific topics that have been extensively empirically studied and involving participants from the region; c) Analysis of topics or issues specific to the region or developed with a territorial approach; d) Analysis of regional productivity and levels of gender gap, collaboration, and student inclusion; and e) Analysis of metrics and conceptualizations concerning scientific production in psychological science. Nevertheless, other related topics will be taken into consideration.
The proposed articles may include qualitative or quantitative data research reports, theoretical developments, integrative and critical sociobibliometric reviews and researches, methodological and historiographical contributions. Manuscripts must follow the guidelines for authors of the journal, which can be found in the following link: https://journal.sipsych.org/index.php/IJP/about/submissions#authorGuidelines.
Guest editors:
- Oscar J. Galindo-Caballero (Universidad Manuela Beltran, Colombia)
- Mario A. Laborda (Editor Temático RIP/IJP; Universidad de Chile, Chile)
- Lucia Alcalá (California State University, USA)
References
Arnett, J. (2008). The neglected 95%: Why American psychology needs to become less American. American Psychologist, 63, 602-614.
Henrich, J., Heine, S. J., & Norenzayan, A. (2010). The weirdest people in the world?. Behavioral and brain sciences, 33(2-3), 61-83.
Thalmayer, A. G., Toscanelli, C., & Arnett, J. J. (2021). The neglected 95% revisited: Is American psychology becoming less American?. American Psychologist, 76(1), 116.