Geo- mapping the evolution of the social representations theory: the Latin America scenario

Launched in 1994 by Annamaria Silvana de Rosa (1994a, 1994b, 2002, 2013a, 2013b), the ambitious project for an empirical meta-theoretical analysis of the entire literature on Social Representations produced worldwide has been carried out over the last two decades. It currently represents the unified research framework of the EC approved SoReComJoint-IDP (http://www.europhd.eu/SoReComJointIDP) conducted in collaboration with 13 Early Stage Researchers at the European PhD on Social Representations and Communication Research Centre and Multimedia Lab. Specific web-tools have been designed by de Rosa (including the on-line grid for the meta-theoretical analysis and the related web-inventories) implemented in the institutional website (http://www.europhd.eu) currently in transition into a new digital platform, including the SoReCom“A.S. de Rosa”@-library (de Rosa, 2014b, 2014c, 2014d, 2015a). The analysis of our big data and metadata enables us to take stock of the scientific field developed in more than 50 years by mapping its development, the related research paradigmatic approaches and methods, the thematic areas and their impact on the various applied fields within the multi-generational community of scientists and across different geo-cultural contexts (de Rosa, A.S. 2015b). Goal. Our goal is to discuss some aspects of global dissemination of the Social Representations Theory, presenting a selection of results visualized according to a technique designed ad hoc for geo-mapping the development and the dissemination of the theory across the continents (de Rosa, 2014a), over several generations of scientists, and according to paradigmatic, geo-cultural and thematic foci. We shall share some of the comparative analyses based on “big data” and “meta-data” filed in our SoReCom“A.S. de Rosa”@-library repositories, concerning authors’ countries and institutional affiliations, years of publication by decades, type of publication, thematic areas, language of publication, etc. This allows us to present: a) the geo-mapping of the wider scientific production in Social Representations (de Rosa, 2014a) and comparative results with different types of publications; 1 In collaboration with the 13 SoReCom Joint IDP fellows: Carlos Miguel Aguilar Filiberto, Laura Arhiri, Filomena Berardi, Borja De Madeira, Teresa Forte, Mihaela Alexandra Gherman, Marija Adela Gjiorgjioska, Ioana Guraliuc, Maryia Kukharava, Gabriela Monica Panzaru, Agnese Pastorino, Aminat Ramazanova, Ana Tomicic (http://www.europhd.eu/SoReComJointIDP) b) the dynamics of the knowledge epidemiology via the inter-institutional collaborations between authors belonging to institutions in different countries and continents: who works with whom, (on what) and where? c) the relevance of the crosscutting thematic choice for the publications Methods. The bibliographic sources of the empirical data used for our analyses were extracted from a larger number of 9930 SoReCom“A.S.de Rosa”@-library bibliographic references, of which 8888 items specifically related to social representations and communication (including also books, book chapters, conference presentations, web documents, manuscripts, university reports, Master and PhD theses, etc.) filed in the repositories of the SoReCom“A.S. de Rosa”@-Library as of March 3, 2015 (de Rosa, 2014a, 2014d, 2015a, 2015b). They have been analysed using the specific tool, the last version (v.2014) of the Grid for meta-theoretical analysis developed by de Rosa that consists of five parts. In this presentation, we take into account data and meta-data based on its first part relevant to the “bibliographic item”. Results. Concerning the “type” of the bibliographic item, the majority of production in social representations filed in the repositories of the SoReCom “A.S. de Rosa” @- Library can be classified as journal articles (40.3%), followed by conference presentations (32.5%) and book chapters (21.7%); other types of contributions (5.6%) include books, theses, manuscripts, reports and web documents. About the theory’s dissemination, the dedicated international conference play a crucial role for (de Rosa, 2008; de Rosa & d’Ambrosio, 2003, 2008), also promoting the dynamics of the knowledge epidemiology via the inter-institutional collaborations between authors belonging to institutions in different countries and continents (59.9% from Europe, 30.5% from Latin America, 5.5% from North America, 2.3% from Asia, 1.3% from Oceania and 0.4% from Africa). Based on the year of publication, we observe a steady trend of growth of the number of publications worldwide after a latency period of almost two decades. The five top macro-thematic fields in the literature on Social Representations in order of ranking results: “Science, Education and Communication”, “Community & Health”, and “Politics: Multidimensional identities, intergroup relations, social movements and active minorities”, “Environment”, “Economy, Advertising, Marketing and Organizational Contexts”, each of them including many diversified sub-topics. Conclusions. The empirical data presented in this contribution confirm the richness of the diversified publishing opportunities gained by the social representations literature, considering diverse types of publications ranging across several thematic areas, and also theoretical, paradigmatic and methodological orientations.