Editorial work and technologies

In studies about work, the incorporation of technologies constitutes a traditional area of reflection. Contrary to what is spread in common sense, the critical field seeks to dissociate the implementation of new technologies from necessarily positive or even qualitative changes in work processes (Lima Junior et al., 2014). Thus, critical perspectives intend to break with the idea that technologies determine the organization of work, highlighting the inexistence of a linear process, in which changes in production originate from technological innovation. With regard to Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), this aspect that naturalizes an immediate relationship between digital technologies and the improvement of communication dynamics is expressed even more emphatically.

This panorama materializes, in a relevant way, in scientific journals. If, on the one hand, there is an indisputable need to establish agile and flexible procedures that allow processing and archiving significant volumes of information, such as texts and opinions, in addition to recording the entire editorial flow of the journal, on the other hand, these needs end up imposing standards and regulations that design editorial work, which also involves direct interaction between different subjects. Particularly in the Brazilian context, technological development, by involving more robust financial resources, as well as the demand for new professionals, is not always compatible with the budget allocated to scientific publications, making it difficult to maintain existing journals and the emergence of new ones.

This discussion follows the daily life of scientific editorials in the country and defines strategies, such as the adoption of the Open Journal System (OJS) by Trabalho, Educação e Saúde. The present volume is entirely constructed from the editorial processing by such system. It is a free software developed by the Public Knowledge Project (PKP, 2014) to promote open access and the improvement of academic publishing. In Brazil, the Brazilian Institute of Information in Science and Technology (IBICT) was the institution that disseminated the system, by offering technical support, to Brazilian journals.

In a preliminary way, we can confirm the gain in agility in the editorial treatment, as well as the control of possible errors. In parallel, we cannot fail to mention as an issue the invisibility of the work involved in the publication of a text, the result of a complex and varied set of tasks, produced by workers, such as editorial assistants, referees, executive editors, diagrammers, scientific editor, copy editors and proofreaders. The clean environment of a technological system tends to obscure the intensity of human work, if those involved in editorial work are not guided by the ethical and political commitment of understanding the character of work (Antunes, 2021).

The experience of using the OJS, therefore, will deserve future reflections, thematizing its potentialities, its limits and its implications in the editorial work process, without neglecting to consider the articulation between the development of Brazilian science and scientific communication in the country.

Angélica Ferreira Fonseca
Carla Macedo Martins
Scientific Editors

Referências

• ANTUNES, Ricardo. Capitalismo de plataforma e desantropomorfização do trabalho. In: GROHMANN, Raphael. Os laboratórios do trabalho digital: entrevistas. São Paulo: Boitempo, 2021. p. 33-38.
• LIMA JUNIOR, Paulo et al Marx como referencial para análise de relações entre ciência, tecnologia e sociedade. Ciência & Educação, Bauru, v. 20, n. 1, p. 175-194, 2014. DOI: 10.1590/1516-731320140010011. Disponível em: https://www.scielo.br/j/ciedu/a/pf6tyHFWWXpcdW57GcYdK8b/?lang=pt Acesso em: 5 mar. 2022.
  » https://doi.org/10.1590/1516-731320140010011» https://www.scielo.br/j/ciedu/a/pf6tyHFWWXpcdW57GcYdK8b/?lang=pt
• PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE PROJECT. Open Journal Systems. 2014. Disponível em: https://pkp.sfu.ca/ojs/ Acesso em: 5 mar. 2022.
  » https://pkp.sfu.ca/ojs

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  30 Mar 2022
• Date of issue
  2022