Editorial mediation and its relationship with the popularization of science

ABSTRACT

Introduction:  This article presents the main results of a study on editorial mediation as an empirical category in promoting the popularization of science. Mediation is considered to be embedded in different informational environments and comprises a process that favors the conscious appropriation and use of information. We understand that it is an essential factor in enabling access to scientific information through actions aimed at popularizing science. That said the research starts from the following question: How is editorial mediation characterized to contribute to the effective promotion of science popularization?

Objective:  Analyze editorial mediation as a conceptual and empirical category in promoting the popularization of science. Methodology: Exploratory research was conducted using a qualitative approach, with database searches using the descriptors science popularization, editorial mediation, science, and technology, in the LISA, BRAPCI, SCIELO, and Capes Periodicals databases. To develop the conceptual map, the conceptual, procedural, and socio-communicational dimensions of mediation were observed, and the CMAP TOOLS (version 6.03) tool was used.

Results:  The results indicate that editorial mediation is a complex process that is part of scientific communication and whose application favors not only access to scientific information but also scientific dissemination through the popularization of science.

Conclusion:  Editorial mediation is an extension of the concept of mediation observed at the confluence between the process of scientific information communication and editorial processes, favoring both the dissemination and diffusion of knowledge.

KEYWORDS
Scientific publishing; Information mediators; Scientific journals; Popularization of science; Editorial mediation.