Mapping communities and scientific dissemination collections in digital repositories: descriptive analysis of the Brazilian scenario

ABSTRACT

Introduction:  The democratization of access to scientific knowledge must be a fundamental activity for universities and institutions that carry out scientific research. Open access digital repositories have emerged as powerful tools in this context. With this in mind, what elements characterize communities and collections in digital repositories aimed at scientific outreach?

Objective:  The aim of this article is to map scientific outreach communities and collections in digital repositories in Brazil, to suggest guidelines for the development of collections with these characteristics.

Methodology:  This is a descriptive qualitative approach, which used documentary research with the aim of establishing a mapping of digital repositories of public institutions in Brazil (public universities and public scientific research institutions), identifying elements that can verify their commitment to scientific outreach through their repositories.

Results:  The analyses indicate that the majority of digital repositories do not prioritize scientific outreach to the public, with few explicit and systematized initiatives, revealing a significant gap between the availability of materials and the effective democratization of scientific knowledge.

Conclusion:  Open access digital repositories can be an effective strategy for disseminating the knowledge produced by research institutions and universities, facilitating access to scientific information for a wide audience. However, the scenario revealed shows few initiatives that are consistent with the panorama of scientific outreach. With this in mind, guidelines are suggested for the implementation of good scientific outreach practices on these platforms, with the aim of democratizing knowledge for society as a whole.

KEY WORDS:
Digital repositories; Scientific dissemination; Scientific communication