XIII Technical Meeting of the LATINDEX System Buenos Aires, Argentina 4th, 5th and 6th October 2007 Participantes: Presidenta: Ana Maria Cetto UNAM - México Coordinador General: José Octavio Alonso Gamboa UNAM, Dirección General de Bibliotecas - México Secretario para 2007: Beatriz Calleja CAICYT, CONICET - Argentina Coordinadores en los países participantes Ana Maria Flores CAICYT, CONICET - Argentina Alicia Aparicio CAICYT-CONICET - Argentina Roberto Zambrana Flores Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, Programa UMSATIC - Bolivia Suely Maffia IBICT - Brasil Marcela Aguirre CONICYT - Chile Saray Códoba González Universidad de Costa Rica - Costa Rica Teresa de la Caridad Verdecia Gutiérrez IDICT - Cuba Eléa Giménez Toledo CINDOC, CSIC - España Mercedes de Beeck Universidad de San Carlos - Guatemala Octavio Castillo Sánchez Sistema de Biblioteca de la Universidad de Panamá - Panamá Isabel Recavarren CENDICYT, CONCYTEC - Perú Giovanna Riggio Universidad APEC (UNAPEC) - República Dominicana Snejanka Penkova Universidad APEC (UNAPEC) - República Dominicana Yesica León Centro de Documentación FONACIT - Venezuela Lenny M. Rodriguez FONACIT - MCT - Venezuela Analista y diseñador a cargo de la implementación del Sistema Miguel Angel Mejía Argueta UNAM, DGSCA - México Invitada especial Michele Bincaz REDIAL, Red Francesa sobre América Latina - Francia Observadora Dominique Babini CLACSO - Argentina Meeting Agenda: Thursday 4th October. INAUGURAL SESSION Election of moderators and rapporteurs for the meeting. Discussion and approval of agenda. Reading of the minutes of the XII meeting in Mexico City, 2006. Discussion of measures taken or pending following the 2006 meeting. Reports of activities from each country. Friday 5th October LATINDEX Website . Criteria for classifying reviews according to their nature: Research, popularization (scientific and cultural), and technical-professional. Publications: Study of terminology and function. Index of electronic resources. Validation of criteria and evaluation of experiences in the use of the index. Future plans. Development of secondary services. The OAS Project. CYTED. Collaboration with other systems. Basic nuclei. The situation in various countries. Saturday 6th October Areas of cooperation with ISSN. Location for 2008 meeting. Decisions and Minutes. XIII Technical Meeting of LATINDEX Before the official start of activities, each of the participants introduced themselves, mentioning the institution and country they represented. The new representatives from Cuba, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic and Guatemala were welcomed. The representative of the French network for Latin America and the European network for Latin America (REDIAL), Michele Bincaz, was introduced as a special guest at the meeting, because of her strong links with Latin American journals and the transmission of Latin Americanist academic and scientific activity in Europe. . Following this, the meeting was formally inaugurated with opening words of welcome from the President of CONICET, Dr Eduardo Charreau, from the Director of CACYT, Prof Mario Albornoz, and from Dr Ana Maria Cetto, the President of Latindex, who thanked the organisers of the event most warmly. . Election of moderators and recorders for the meeting Beatriz Calleja of Argentina and Saray Cordoba of Costa Rica were elected as moderators for the meeting, and Roberto Zambrana of Bolivia and Giovanna Riggio of the Dominican Republic were elected as recorders. . Discussion and approval of agenda. The agenda for the meeting was approved with the following amendments to the provisional version: 1) An item was added to analyze Latindex's status in certain countries like Ecuador, Bolivia. Nicaragua and Uruguay; 2) The order of the items on editorial publications and the index of electronic resources were changed. Also, Ana Maria Cetto remarked that the review of the decisions reached at the 2006 meeting raised matters which required further analysis, for example the matter of basic nuclei, which she proposed should be added to the agenda. . Review of decisions recorded in the minutes of the XII meeting in Mexico, 2006. Decision no. 1: Saray Córdoba González will try to make contact with the University of Asunción Paraguay) authorities in order to invite them to join Latindex.. Saray Cordoba and Ana Maria Flores informed the meeting that it had not been possible to make contact with the authorities at the University of Asuncion in Paraguay. Another colleague mentioned that in spite of making contact with some of the researchers in that institution, it had proved impossible to make any progress. It was noted that in that country, some reviews had been processed, but only informally. Also, they had not attended the workshop, so that, as in Decision no. 1, the contact remains latent. Decision no. 2: A Macro Convention proposal will be made for Latindex. Antonio Sánchez Pereyra will consult the ISSN International Centre on whether it would be feasible to use it in 2007 and subsequent updates. In effect, an agreement with ISSN had been signed a few days earlier at the forum of the joint meeting held between Latindex and that international organization. Decision no. 3: Ana María Cetto will send thank-you letters for the support received from the countries as required, providing that these countries send the recipients’ details. This invitation is being issued to all Latindex member countries whether or not they attended the Mexico meeting. Ana Maria Cetto has drafted a letter, but has not yet received the necessary information about the recipients in order to send it.Octavio Alonso suggested writing another letter to be distributed internally within UNAM, because of the imminent change of rector at that university, with the aim of emphasizing the importance of the fact that this institution was the founder of Latindex, to assure the continuation of their support. This proposal was accepted.. Ana María Cetto will make a direct approach to Dr. Pisanty from the DGSCA-UNAM for supporting a Latindex scholarship program This scholarship fund has been obtained. Decision no. 5 The Glossary will be worked on. Marcela Aguirre will send the main list and Clara L.Guzman Snejanka Penkova, Elea Gimenez and Carmen Urdin Caminos will work on it, the latter as coordinator.. Marcela Aguirre informed the meeting that the Glossary is almost 100% complete. The methodology used was to check the website, and the catalogue and the index, identifying the terms. The work is presented in a table with three columns, descriptions, definitions of the Chilean program and the actual proposal by Latindex. Elea Gimenez suggested incorporating definitions of the different modalities of open access that the institutions can opt for into the glossary. This advance draft of the glossary will be taken as the point of departure and its revision will continue, incorporating the different definitions of open access, as well as the publications. It was also proposed that a consensus be reached on the definitions of types of journals (research, information, technical-professional etc.) and include them in the glossary. Marcela Aguirre undertook to circulate the final version of the glossary so that it could be added to the website. Note that decisions 5, 6 and 29 should be analyzed in conjunction. Decision no. 6: The Glossary of definitions should clarify what is to be understood by "Editorial Committee" and "Scientific Committee", as well as their equivalents in the different countries. Saray Cordoba Gonzalez (Coordinator), Marcela Aguirre, Ana Maria Flores and Elea Gimenez will work on the Glossary. They will prepare a survey on the practices of the editorial and scientific committees. This will be applied to the journals from each country. Saray Cordoba reported on the investigation carried out on the roles and functions of the editorial and scientific committees, presenting the summarized result in a chart comparing different conceptions of these functions. Ana Maria Flores commented that the investigation had revealed surprises, which indicated the existence of particular modalities in the editorial process. Elea Gimenez remarked on the investigation carried out in Spain, pointing out the differences with the results in Latin American countries. Because of this, it is proposed to further refine these definitions, comparing them in each country and systematizing the results. Saray Cordoba remarked that she had spoken about this with members of the SCIELO project, and agreed with them that a consensus on these definitions was a world-wide necessity; it followed that these tasks should be performed carefully and for the long-term, She reiterated that information still had to be gathered in order to standardize the criteria. Marcela Aguirre observed that there are also differences in the functions of these editorial systems according to the different types of journals (social sciences or exact sciences). Suelly Maffia proposed that rather than finding compromises, equivalences should be established between the different definitions found. Octavio Alonso said that there were instances where there was an interest in the support of Latindex for the definition of these roles and functions; He therefore proposed the immediate publication of an advance version which would indicate these contradictions in the Latindex website. Roberto Zambrana proposed that Latindex should not lose its focus on the goal of defining the roles and functions of the editorial organs, if possible in the short term. In sundry interventions it was remarked that the application of the investigation had only a limited reach, and in some countries it had not even been applied, and it was proposed to send the questionnaire to all he countries in which the investigation had not been carried out. Ana Maria Flores commented that it is also necessary to define the functions of director and editor, as in many cases these functions overlap with those of the editorial committee. Ana Maria Cetto supported extending the application of the questionnaires, but proposed in addition to use the web page with the same aim in mind, after which the next step would be to analyze the results and prepare a proposal. Roberto Zambrana proposed seeking specific financial support for this work, and that they should not be satisfied with the proposal for guidelines, but rather to publish a document which would standardize the definitions. Saray Cordoba said that the glossary could be included in this publication. Ana Maria Flores proposed that the Web page should include a space to inform about the activities of Latindex, for example the projects or documents being worked on; however she disagreed with the use of online surveys, preferring personalized ones. Saray Cordoba proposed working on a selection or sample of the journals (those of superior quality) until the end of the year, and only later to begin the analysis and the proposal. Ana Maria Cetto was worried that her perception of the consideration of "journals of superior quality" was that these were the ones that normally had adequate resources, which favored them over others that lacked these resources. She therefore proposed that great care should be taken to review the criteria and not exaggerate them. Each country should be responsible for carrying out the investigation on representative journals. Because of the interest in the subject and the lack of research in the area, the working group proposed that an international publication should be drafted which would treat these matters in depth. Decision no. 7: Miguel Angel Mejia Argueta will pick up the pending issues with Ricardo Crisafulli Rodríez, on the Latindex mirror website and its records before December. Concerning the matter of inconsistent data, Miguel Angel Mejia informed the meeting that he was working on this, but he needs to receive the official data base from Brazil in order to upload the data correctly. Suelly Maffia will coordinate this work. Regarding the mirror-sites (see also Decisions nos. 8 and 9), Miguel Angel Mejia reported that the process of coordination with Spain had not borne fruit and Elea Gimenez confirmed that the proposal to set up a mirror site had been made. In the case of Brazil a dialogue will be opened at technical level, but Suely Maffia reported that the technician was no longer working for IBICT, so that a new technician must be sought to coordinate this work. Regarding Argentina, in the coming days the technical ability to immediately establish a mirror-site would be determined. Decision no. 8: Miguel Angel Mejia Argueta will send the technical specifications to Spain so that they can find out whether it is viable to set up a mirror site for Latindex there and so they can assess its relevance. Dealt with under Decision no. 7. Decision no. 9: If Brazil and Spain are not able to install mirror-sites, Beatriz Calleja will determine the possibility of installing one in Argentina. Dealt with under Decision 7. Decision no. 10: The English and Portuguese versions of the documents will be online by the end of November. If these documents need to be changed, Miguel Angel Mejia-Argueta will coordinate the correction process with each country's documents.> Miguel Angel Mejia informed the meeting that the versions in Spanish, English and Portuguese were ready, indicating that there exists a list of documents that had not been translated, so that this work could be tackled and completed. Octavio Alonso added that the minutes were among the documents that it was important to translate, as he had noted that these were frequently consulted and cited. Decision no. 11 Miguel Angel Mejia and Antonio Sanchez Pereyra will coordinate the Latindex manuals, with the aim of publishing them in January. Miguel Angel Mejia informed the meeting that the manuals were ready, but because of the change of website, the work had to be repeated. He indicated that the manual of correct usage was ready, as well as those of INASP and CINDOC which had already been on the previous version of the website. Ana Maria Flores proposed e-mailing the editors informing them that the manuals were available. It was also suggested that an alert system could be created to automatically inform users of new material on the site. Miguel Angel Mejia said that he would have to see how this could be done. If it were not done, it would be because of lack of time. Decision no. 12: Liliana Andrea Sanchez Islas will take on the task of providing information services on the Latindex website, adding at least one news item per week. All countries are invited to contribute by sending news. Miguel Angel Mejia said that this module had been programmed and was ready for use. Andrea Sanchez could now start adding news items. He informed the meeting that the function of the module allowed each item to remain visible for a few days, after which it passed into a history archive. Octavio Alonso said that items of news should be sent to Andrea Sanchez for her to summarize and upload. Regarding the historical archive, after some debate, it was proposed that the senders of news items should specify whether the item should remain indefinitely in the archive or be deleted after the space of one year. Decision no. 13: Ana Maria Cetto proposed working on the definition, visions, objectives and strategies for Latindex for the next 5 years. On Monday 23 October at 14:00 an initial meeting will be held in order to define Latindex's next phase. Juan Voutssas, Ana Maria Cetto, Jose Octavio Alonso Gamboa and Clara Guzman will attend. In this meeting an executive summary will be made for Latindex, for distribution to the authorities with the aim of obtaining funding. Octavio Alonso informed those present that this meeting had taken place, but it had proved difficult to progress the subject. He said that this would require more than limited time, and added a reflection on the direction that Latindex would be going. A discussion followed to establish how to continue this. Marcela Aguirre proposed that each country that wanted to contribute to this should do it through Octavio Alonso, defining the period of time for receiving it. Saray Cordoba proposed that Octavio Alonso should lead a working group to receive and systematize contributions. Decesion no. 14: As far as the OAS is concerned, Ana MaríCetto offered to find out information about the call for proposals for the FEMCIDI program. At the time there had been no announcement, and none has been made since, neither has any announcement been published recently. Decision no 15: Spain delivered a list of databases that need to appear on the Latindex website to Antonio Sanchez Pereyra. All the countries were invited to contribute by sending any available information. Antonio Sanchez Pereyra will analyze it and will instruct Miguel Angel Mejia Argueta on how to include it in the Latindex website. Miguel Angel Mejia said that this item was related to Decision no. 17, and said that there was a new section in the index and bibliography page where these lists could be found. Ana Maria Flores and Saray Cordoba said that several did not appear, and Miguel Angel Mejia responded by saying that they had not yet been uploaded, but this was in hand. Octavio Alonso mentioned that Andrea Sanchez had prepared a list of digital newspaper archives, which could be added to the page. Alicia Aparicio suggested that this list could be augmented with data from ISSN. Marcela Aguirre proposed that a more elaborate scheme could be adopted, not only as a list, in such a way that services providing abstracts and indexing could be differentiated. Octavio Alonso proposed that these terms should be defined accurately in the glossary. Decision no 16: Marcela Aguirre, Adelaida Romá Angela Patricia Bonilla Ramirez and Antonio Sanchez Pereyra (the latter as coordinator) will continue working on an explanatory leaflet about the Latindex System for editors, researchers and evaluation committees. To consolidate its development each member will send a brief text with the impacts, success stories and relevant information about Latindex in their country. Ana Maria Cetto will look for prominent people who could provide relevant quotes about Latindex, with the aim of including them in the leaflet, whose content needs to be defined by the first week of December. Tentatively, it will be funded by the DGSCA. Marcela Aguirre sent Antonio Sanchez samples of some leaflets used by SCIELO and others, but still hasn't received the results. Elea Gimenez said that Adelaida Romáalso sent this information. Octavio Alonso informed that Antonio Sanchez prepared a CD containing this information. The project is still under way. It needs to be followed up and the countries must send text and sentences about impact. Decision no 17: With regards to the bibliography, this needs to be a permanent process, where each country's coordinator takes on the task of sending this information to Antonio Sanchez Pereyra, who will pass it on to Miguel Angel Mejia Argueta for him to put on the Latindex site. Octavio Alonso said that Mexico has made the update and that the country's bibliography is already up. It was proposed to continue with this work, including information about using Latindex, as well as about Latindex itself. Decision no 18: Adelaida Roman will seek contacts with other Latin American oriented European Digital Archives that are not on Redial. Elea Gimenez said that Adelaida Roman initiated contact with Italy and Portugal, but has still not received any results from them. Marcela Aguirre mentioned a possible contact in Sweden. Octavio Alonso wondered whether it might be better to consolidate contact with Redial and the United States and not to add to the list of tasks. Elea Gimenez proposed identifying a person in Redial as a link for working directly with them. Michele Bincaz said that it was essential to define the term "Latin Americanist journals". Octavio Alonso asked Michele Bincaz to act as the link-person and to send Latindex the definition and the records. Michele Bincaz proposed that for this purpose and agreement or a letter of intention should be formalized between Redial-Latindex. It was agreed that Michele Bincaz would prepare the first draft. Decision no 19: Update Latindex members' e-mail addresses in order to create a mailing list, so that all members can communicate using this medium: Miguel Angel Mejia Argueta will coordinate this task. A list was circulated during the meeting, which will be put in digital format and finalized. Decision no 20: Octavio Castillo Sanchez informed about the next Editors' Meeting in March 2007; this time countries that are not members of Latindex will be invited to join. Octavio Castillo informed that he had worked intensively with the University of Panama authorities and in partnership with the National Library. He has the list of journals that have applied for an ISSN, which establishes a formal relationship with editors from all over the country. He said that from November to May they will work on a publication (which has already gone to print) about parameters for scientific publications by the University of Panama, with the people in charge of publications and a group of librarians from the Library System. Once this document is ready, a workshop is planned for March 2008. Octavio Alonso informed that Guatemala's record into the Latindex system came about as a result of this initiative. This country will help and will also be able to benefit from the workshop. A reminder that the original plan was to take it to the Dominican Republic, together with a representative from Guatemala and another from Honduras. Octavio Alonso mentioned that this depended on INASP support. Decision no 21: Marcela Aguirre mentioned that she would get in touch with Anna Maria Prat on the issue of CYTED We are still hoping for an outcome on the institutional situation. Decision no 22: For Latindex statistics to be visible all its users, Miguel Angel Mejia Argueta will make the corresponding link in the system. Already done. Decision no 23: Add the agreed changes to the Latindex annual report (standardize progress reports in the electronic resources index, notes on Latindex's impact in each country). No changes have been verified in the annual report. This must be updated for next year. Decision no 24: On the search screen, add an "advanced search" field. Already done. Decision no 25: Antonio Sanchez Pereyra will run the robot that verifies the links once a year, and will send the corresponding report to all the countries. This will be done at the beginning of each year. Already done. Decision no 26: An evaluation of all the suggested and presented changes to the Latindex website system will be carried out by the Mexico team. This will be shown on 26th January 2007 and it is hoped that member countries will send suggestions and comments by 5th February. Already done. Decision no 27: All Latindex members committed themselves to updating the Latindex URL, changing from www.latindex.unam.mx to www.latindex.org Already done. Decision no 28: Miguel Angel Mejia Argueta will take on the task of requesting the redirection from www.latindex.unam.mx to www.latindex.org. Already done. Decision no 29: Latindex will provide a definition of Open Access and will put it in the glossary. In addition, a circular will be sent to editors, requesting that they state whether their publications are Open Access according to the Latindex definition. Each country will be responsible for its journals. Already done and was reviewed in Decision 5. Decision no 30: Ana Maria Flores, Adelaida RomáRomáand Snejanka Penkova will produce a piece of work about Latindex's ten years. This information will be sent to Miguel Ágel MejíArgueta for him to put on the website. Ana Maria Flores said that the work was done and that they had a proposal; Snejanka Penkova said that she had prepared the piece of work and sent it by e-mail, but has not received any feedback, which she asked for. The questionnaire will be circulated during this meeting to finalize the task. Decision no 31: Miguel Angel Mejia Argueta will send (via e-mail) each country the folios of the journals that are in the catalogue and which do not have an ISSN number so that they are aware. This was done and the information was sent to the affected countries. Latindex will help with support for the registration at the local office when appropriate, or at the central office, following the specifications and the commitments in the agreement signed with the ISSN. Decision no 32: In the case of journals that have a printed version and an electronic version, whether or not they have an ISSN, they will be entered using two records. In the case of the online version, the words "En Linea" ("Online") will be added to the title. Already done. This rule will have to be taken into account by new members when filling their electronic records. Decision no 33: Carry out an awareness campaign for editors over the next year, about the need to have an ISSN for the printed version and another for the online version of the same journal, warning them that as from January 2008 this specification will be compulsory for being part of the Catalogue. This was done. Impact varied from country to country, according to Octavio Alonso. Two changes now need to be made, in the title and in the format, said Saray Cordoba. In the recently completed ISSN meeting there was a discussion about a replica being considered to be a reproduction, and therefore not requiring another ISSN. In any case, following a renewed debate it was proposed that a printed journal that has an exact reproduction should have a single ISSN. In conclusion, a campaign will be conducted for countries that want their electronic versions to appear in the catalogue should have to apply for a different ISSN. An announcement needs to be sent to editors informing them on this issue. Decision no 34: Review the evaluation criteria for electronic journals for next year, to discuss and modify them as required. This will be looked at on the agenda of this current meeting. Decision no 35: Among the qualification criteria for electronic journals, "Must appear on the main page of the journal" in parameter 7, will be changed to "Must appear in a visible location". Already done. Decision no 36: The complete Catalogue should be viewable on the website, including printed and electronic journals, allowing for simultaneous searches of electronic or printed journals as well as just electronic or just printed. Already done. Decision no 37: On the subject of the virtual course for editors that is currently under way, Beatriz Calleja will take on coordinating the evaluation by course participants, and will take their suggestions into account in order to redesign the next course, which will take place in 2007. No changes were made as a result of the replies. Some minor adjustments will be made. Saray Cordoba requested a report on the course results. Beatriz Calleja said she would send it. Elea Gimenez proposed promoting the use of the OJS platform. There was also a suggestion to write up and send this experience as a news item and compare experiences with Brazil and Spain. Decision no 38: A presentation will be made to INASP requesting funds to cover travel costs of those attending the next Latindex meeting, a F2F workshop and a second version of the virtual course. Done Decision no 39: Octavio Castillo Sanchez will oversee the production of the next F2F workshop in his country for editors with a focus on Central America, with the participation of the Dominican Republic. Discussed. Decision no 40: Beatriz Calleja offered to coordinate the production of the virtual course once again with the improvements that emerge from the evaluation mentioned in point 38. Done. Decision no 41: It was agreed that the materials for the next courses must be available on the Latindex website. Done. Decision no 42: It was agreed that the next meeting would be held in Argentina, taking into account that the ISSN Directors' meeting will also be held there, which will enable us to invite Françse Pelle as an ISSN observer at the Latindex meeting as well as other ISSN members, while Latindex members could attend the ISSN Directors' meeting. Fulfilled. Decision no 43: The Latindex website will link to the site for the book (www.clacso.org.ar/biblioteca), including an image of the cover. Needs to be done in the new version. Decision no 44: A commission will be set up for working on the definition of the characteristics of scientific, technical-professional and publishing journals. This will comprise Marcela Aguirre as the coordinator, Adelaida Roman, Saray Cordoba and the Brazilian representative. Jose Octavio Alonso Gamboa will send Marcela Aguirre information and documentation on the issue of the nature of journals, according to the Mexican experience. Other members are invited to make their contributions. This subject will be looked at later during this meeting's agenda. Decision no 45: The way in which evaluation forms are access is changing. Eligible users now have to decide which criteria to apply - either electronic or print journals. Already done. Latindex Website Miguel Angel Mejia announced that the new version of the Latindex site was now online, and presented the following changes made to the different sections, made in response to requests from users. He explained that the system is based on folios and that the advanced searches had been improved, including the search by truncation or root terms. The "What is Latindex" text was also corrected. For updating the "Organization" section each country's representative was asked to inform about recent changes. The website has a new section, "Indexing and digital newspaper archive", and the need to include the complete URL in documents that are completely accessible online was stressed. The "Documents" section includes translations that have been received, but some documents still need to be translated. Some participants observed that they had sent translations that had not been included in this section. In order to improve this section, it was proposed to: • " Classify documents according to theme. In order for this to be achieved, all countries will send their suggestions to Antonio Sanchez Pereyra within a month. • Put the documents that are left from San Jose and link to the documents from the University of Costa Rica/Latindex. Some comments, suggestions and requests for changing the website followed. Suely Maffia and others said that there should be direct access to the journal evaluation criteria. Ana Maria Cetto supported this and asked for direct links to this information to be created. Then it was remarked that the criteria should be easily accessible in the "Editors" section and that this section should have all the information that the editors need. It was then agrees to include a link to the criteria and the database list in the "Editors" section. There was also a proposal to create a Frequently Asked Questions site in the FAQ format and put a link on the main page. To set up this site, it was requested that all countries should send Octavio Alonso a list of the questions they receive most frequently or suggest before the end of the year. Miguel Angel Mejia informed that the Latindex site usage statistics would be generated every Wednesday and Saturday at 2:00am, and that these have been generated continuously, except for in the month of May, during which for some reason they were deactivated The importance of recording information about the number of new users and generating site statistics was stressed. Statistics for access by country were also analyzed. It was observed that the "unknown" category was very common and some asked whether there was a more precise way of capturing this information, as well as the domain. Other suggestions for improving the Latindex site were: link the basic project with historic documents and determine the news items' lifespan. Another suggestion was to include a navigation bar in "Documents" with links to each document so that the user does not need to run through the whole page in search of a specific document. Conventions for classifying journals according to type: research, (scientific and cultural) academic, and technical-professional. Marcela Aguirre, coordinator of the commission appointed for this task, reported that she had sent the proposal of the definitions to the other members of the commission, and that Saray Cordoba had reviewed and completed them. Ana Maria Flores mentioned that the CAICYT website contained definitions of each type of journal Ana Maria Cetto explained the main reason for this subject being put on the agenda, saying that there were some uncertainties about the definitions and uniformity of regular scientific publications, and also because most journals did not classify as a regular scientific publication according to the "original content" parameter. She added that the academic and the techno-professional journals were not appreciated and that often were not entered into the catalogue. Octavio Alonso said that these definitions should be in the glossary, because these are the categories that classify journals on Latindex and the quality evaluation criteria should apply to all three types of journals. Snejanka Penkova said that the definitions should not have an impact on criteria and that academic and professional journals should not be excluded because they don't fulfill the criteria. She said that she knew some excellent technical-professional journals. Saray Cordoba said that the problem was not the type of journal, but that some of these journals did not fulfill all the evaluation criteria for entering the catalogue. Marcela Aguirre suggested that maybe they should have some specific criteria for evaluating these types of journals, or ever better, the series of parameters for making any exclusion that may be applied to academic and technical-professional journals. Ana Maria Flores said that there are academic journals of different qualities, and suggested using the broadest criteria - of obligatory parameters. Ana Maria Cetto mentioned that we needed to standardize the criteria, and follow the agreed criteria. We want a certain percentage of original material. Octavio Alonso added that the 40% criteria had to do with original content. It was agreed that the following working group would take charge of completing the definitions, by March 2008 at the latest: Marcela Aguirre (coordinator), Saray Cordoba, Carmen Urdin Jose Octavio Alonso and Isabel Recavarren. Then, each country will identify the good academic and technical-professional journals, analyzing them using the catalogue criteria and will highlight the characteristics that distinguish them as good journals in their own fields. This analysis by country needs to be sent to Marcela Aguirre by July 2008 at the latest and the commission will present a report in October. Editorial management organs: study of terminology and its functions This subject was dealt with in depth in the review of Decision no. 6 of last year's meeting (2006). It was added that in some countries, like Peru, Venezuela, Brazil, the Dominican Republic and Colombia, the survey was not held. It was decided to go on working and continue applying the questionnaires, sending it to editors' associations as well. December of this year was set as the deadline. Electronic resource index. Validation of criteria and evaluation of the experience with the index. The subject was introduced with comments about the need to evaluate the experience with the index. On the matter of broken links, Miguel Angel Mejia said that the robot would run through the 300 resources to check whether they were up-to-date. Octavio Alonso suggested that this should be done more often. There was also some uncertainty about the need to know how many links were active. Octavio Alonso suggested changing the name "electronic resources" to "electronic journals for complete text consultation". It was recalled that the original plan had been to include websites, links, digital newspaper archives, but that these are included in the index and digital newspaper archive section. It was therefore decided to leave it as "link to electronic journals". Dominique Babini suggested that for academic networks, Latindex is the main access portal for regional electronic journals, conceived as a meta-search engine that harvests metadata from the CLACSO, REDALYC networks, etc. She added that Latindex is what sets technical guidelines for editors, being the "portal of portals". Michele Bincaz agreed that it was important for Latindex to be a major portal for journals. Ana Maria Cetto replied that we had to work in that direction, although this is an expensive and complex project. She said that Latindex has the capacity to dialogue and is an inclusive system, and thus it is important to save obstacles to achieve interactivity. Miguel Angel Mejia said that this was technically possible; although some systems, like SCIELO, have restrictions on harvesting data. Ana Maria Flores said that it was important for it to be clear that the Latindex system was not the owner of the journals, as the journals do not have any exclusive contract with Latindex. Ana Maria Cetto agreed and proposed that a guidance text be placed in the editors' space, making clear that they are the owners of the journals and that the different portals provide them with added value. The text will be drafted by Ana Maria Flores. It was suggested that she could use the CYTED project proposal worked on by Antonio Sanchez as a reference. Future plans. Development of secondary services. The OAS project. CYTED For the "Portal of Portals" project - mentioned in the previous section - it was agreed to set up a committee with the representatives from Spain, Argentina and Mexico (for the technical aspect an expert in metadata harvesting will be required), to develop a project funding profile. It was suggested that we use a form provided by Dominique Babini to define the project components. Potential agencies and funders mentioned included INASP, ICA, AECI, the European Union, Banco de Santander and other funding entities, the Spanish telephone company, etc. The importance of having UNESCO's backing was also stressed. On developing secondary services, Ana Maria Cetto said that in her opinion resources were being wasted and she asked everyone to think of possible uses for Latindex information services. She said that a market study on the existing needs had not yet been conducted and that in order to start a list of companies that work with scientific journals and a list of editorials was needed. Then followed a variety of proposals, pointing out beforehand that the information had to be processed in accordance with the demands that exist for information services. Elea Gimenez proposed preparing reports that simplify the search for regional agencies, as well as analysis of information for evaluators, considering that evaluation agencies could pay for these specialized services for detailed studies. On the question of offering commercial services through the Latindex website, Suely Maffia mentioned that currently it could be considered charging editors for services in Brazil. Marcela Aguirre corroborated this, asking editors who had benefited from the System for their contributions. Roberto Zambrana proposed the provision of additional services for editors at a fixed annual cost. Octavio Alonso replied that this was not possible, because Latindex did not have the means to make this operative, and hasn't the capacity to charge. Ana Maria Flores said that it was possible to identify needs for specialized information services in Argentina. She added that with the current server capacity and at no cost to Latindex, the courses could be offered online. Suely Maffia said it was important to recognize the value of the Latindex seal of quality and approved of the idea of charging for certain services, understanding that what is free is not valued and considering that there have been some difficulties in sustaining the System, which is so expensive. Saray Cordoba called on all to consider the fact that some institutions had funded the Latindex System and that, for example, universities could not be charged. She said that these institutions pay a share and provide support by belonging to the cooperation network. She added that we have a responsibility to that community which values us as important. She pointed out that we needed to define who we would sell to, suggesting that it would possible to charge scientific associations for advice, for example. Snejanka Penkova said that the question of who to charge was a delicate issue, in the collection centers, many journals are purchased and others are donated. She proposed that training should be charged, on the grounds that all professional associations charge for their courses. Octavio Alonso mentioned that SCIELO and Redalyc did not charge for their services; and that if they were to charge, they could lose their market share. He said that this issue came up in 1998 and asked everyone to take into account that Latindex is a resource produced in the UNAM, and that in the case of receiving an income, UNAM would retain 20% as extraordinary income. But if this were the case, CAICYT would also charge for its courses. Then he listed the difficulties of negotiating and marketing services on a cooperative network. However, he did not exclude the possibilities of some isolated activities being marketed as a pilot project. Ana Maria Flores agreed that decisions about funds are complex and the instrumentation for sales exceeds the representatives, who are dependent on institutions. She referred, however, to the ISSN model, in which each country contributes to a shared fund. Marcela Aguirre proposed providing services by online subscription, with password and products with simple information processing levels. These additional services would be free for Latindex members. And as another alternative, sale of printed products. It was recalled that at the start of the discussion on this subject the importance of identifying needs for developing additional information services derived from existing resources was suggested; then it was suggested that we should focus on the demand for potential services, before thinking about the offer. It was concluded with the decision that each country would investigate the needs for specialized information services, so that we can analyze our capacity for provision. For this purpose a survey will be drawn up and put on our website. Marcela Aguirre, Suely Maffia and Snejanka Penkova (the latter as coordinator) were given the task to prepare the survey in one month. The first results will be ready in May 2008, although the survey will be kept on the website beyond that date. On the question of the OAS project, it was suggested that the idea of a project where the main beneficiaries were the Central American countries should be revived. The representatives from these countries were asked to justify the project and it was suggested that the Central American Universities Confederation (CSUCA) should be involved. Seeing as there is no OAS call for proposals this year, this project would be for the year 2009. It was also suggested that the possibility of presenting a project for the Andean countries should be considered. On the CYTED project, Ana Maria Cetto informed that it could not be formulated, and that no one had been able to take it on due to lack of time. Cooperation with other systems Saray Cordoba expressed the opinion that we needed to establish some kind of link with the Open Access movement. Dominique Babini suggested sending a news item to the Open Access newsletter at least once every three months, on brief subjects, Latindex's 10 years, some statistics, the annual meeting or other events. Roberto Zambrana was asked to write a press release about the Latindex meeting in Buenos Aires, which will be sent to all media. Michele Bincaz presented the REDIAL website and Latindex's link on the site. She said that there were a total of 30 Latin Americanist journals on that portal. It was observed that in the link on the Latindex site the text needed to be corrected and changed to "Revistas Latinoamericanistas" (Latin Americanist Journals), as well as identifying them in the record. The possibility of formalizing a Latindex-Redial agreement was suggested, for which Michele Bincaz will draw up a proposal. It was also suggested that Latindex could disseminate news using the Redial bulletin, Puentes, with a link to its own page, to reach Latin Americanist researchers. The question of cooperation with ISSN will be discussed later in the meeting, using the reading of the recently signed agreement as a basis. Basic Nuclei Ana Maria Cetto said that "Basic Nuclei: Quality and Evaluation of Journals in Latin America", would be an excellent topic for a Latin American workshop. It was suggested that we explore the possibility of holding a workshop on the theme of Basic Nuclei to coincide with the 2008 Latindex Annual Meeting. The idea is to take an experts and key people, with between 40 and 50 people attending Some suggestions were made about the location. Firstly Panama; and if this were not possible, Costa Rica (the possibility of alternative funding for the prize for the Open Journal System). Then Spain, with possible funding from the Spanish Science and Technology Foundation. Later it was mentioned that although there is interest in the equivalent of Basic Nuclei in Spain, it would be more convenient to hold it in Latin America. It was decided that a small program committee needed to be set up. The committee will comprise: Beatriz Calleja, Elea Gimenez, Octavio Castillo, Isabel Recavarren, Saray Cordoba and Ana Maria Cetto. As a side note, it was also mentioned that it is important to find out when and where the next Latin American University Publishers' Association will be held, so that Latindex can make a presentation and the nearest person could attend. The System's decision about the status of some members. Roberto Zambrana said that two institutions with potential for becoming Latindex headquarters in Bolivia were: The Vice Ministry of Science and Technology and the AUTAPO Foundation. In addition, some people shared the opinion that the Bolivian Book Chamber could take on the representation in Bolivia. This institution is interested and is the one that provides the best conditions for the project's presence in the country. They are currently the ISBN centre and are interested in becoming the ISSN centre. The names and contact numbers for Ana Patricia Navarro and Marlene Perez were given to Roberto Zambrana, who will make contact with the Chamber. This institution needs to communicate its interest to Latindex. It is hoped that in future, that any institution that can't keep hosting the representation, will send a communication to Latindex. In the case of Ecuador, Octavio Alonso informed that the foundation that had taken on the representation had ceased to exist and many of its functions had passed on to another institution, which did not absorb Latindex. Later he added that the National Science and Technology Secretariat, SENACYT, was interested in representing Latindex. In the case of Nicaragua, it was mentioned that CONICYT, a Latindex partner since 2003, had not worked on the system. The annual meeting plenary recommended sending a letter CONICYT citing the lack of activity and Latindex's decision to find another partner institution. The National Agrarian University (UNA) in Leóas proposed - Ruth Velia is the person to contact. From Uruguay it was informed that the official science and technology institution could not take on the development of Latindex in the country and that no alternative institutions have yet been suggested. Then it was suggested to consider the possibility of the Universidad de la Republica, for which it was agreed that Dominique Babini, Marcela Aguirre and Ana MariaFlores would try to make contact. Meanwhile, it was decided that the Nicaragua issue would be taken up by UNAM and that the Nicaraguan Science and Technology Council would be deleted from the list of Latindex members. From Honduras, it was reported that Saray Cordoba sent the information to Octavio Alonso and that there is no specific contact in El Salvador. Areas of cooperation with ISSN The meeting started off with the reading, by Ana Maria Cetto, of the agreement signed three days previously between Latindex and the ISSN international centre. Of the review of what was signed in this agreement the main points of cooperation were identified. It was agreed that in countries where there is no national ISSN centre, the Latindex centers need to cooperate by serving as a link between the editors and the international ISSN centre, managing the registration of journal titles. The possibility of including an ISSN module in the virtual course for editors was also discussed with Ana MaríFlores, with the aim of including guidance about the new ISSN directors. Octavio Alonso said that he would contact the ISSN international centre for information about ISSN-L; and would make contact with Anna Callejóatheu. The possibility of including the 776 field in the Latindex records was discussed, and Miguel Angel Mejia was asked to make that change. Suely Maffia referred to the importation of ISSN registers in Marc 21 format that the Brazil centre carries out, Miguel Ágel Mejíasked her to send some examples, with the aim of importing them into the Latindex system. Location for 2008 meeting Beatriz Calleja informed about the positive development of the execution of INASP funds for the 2007 meeting. In the light of the time that it usually takes to execute INASP funds, it as agreed to start preparing the budget and proposal for this organization to sponsor the 2008 Latindex meeting in Panama as soon as possible. It was suggested to explore the possibility that INASP might also support a Face-to-face workshop for editors in one of the countries, preferably with a regional component. Peru and the Dominican Republic expressed an interest and it was finally agreed that a proposal would be prepared for the Dominican Republic, possibly with Cuba y Haiti, with Peru's proposal being carried over to 2009. DECISIONS MADE IN 2007 1. The possibility of contacting the National University of Asuncion, Paraguay, is still pending, in order to incorporate their representation in Latindex - new contacts need to be found. 2. Ana Maria Cetto and Octavio Alonso will draft a letter to the DGSCA and DGB authorities, thanking them for the help received and the importance of LATINDEX as well as the importance of maintaining their support. 3. Ana Maria Cetto will send a thank-you letter to the Latindex representatives in all the countries, using the corrected version and the contacts that were confirmed at the meeting. 4. Taking the preview of the glossary as a starting point and continue revising it, adding the different definitions of open access; as well as the different roles and functions of the editorial management organs. A consensus also needs to be reached about the classification of journals according to type (academic, technical-professional, scientific, etc.). Marcela Aguirre will circulate the first version of the glossary, which would be added to the website. Elea Gimenez will send the survey to the countries that have not previously received it and apply it to the representative journals. Each country needs to send Elea Giméz contact addresses for the editors' associations, so that the survey is sent specifically to these institutions. The instrument will also be sent to Miguel Angel Mejia at the beginning of December, for its publication and application via the website. With this information, the commission (made up of Saray Cordoba -coordinator-, Isabel Recavarren, Elea Gimenez and Ana Maria Flores) will analyze the results, in order to prepare a final proposal. The result of this task will be added to the glossary and could also be an article. 6. Suely Maffia and Miguel Angel Mejia will analyze the Brazilian Latindex records to make a diagnostic study and correct any inconsistencies. 7. On the question of the Latindex mirror sites, Suely will coordinate with the new IBICT technician until mid-October and Miguel Ágel Mejífor the eventual installation of the Brazil mirror site. In the case of Argentina, this work will be done immediately. 8. On the question of the translations that are still needed, Miguel Angel Mejia will send a list of documents that still need to be translated at the beginning of November, so that a commission can carry out this task. The Dominican Republic will coordinate the translations into English and Brazil will oversee the translations into Portuguese. 9. On the question of publishing news items on the website, it was decided that they will be kept on for 30 days and then be transferred to an archive. News items should be sent to Andrea Sanchez, DGB-UNAM. 10. With respect to the differentiated ISSN in electronic journals, it was agreed that a printed journal that has an exact electronic reproduction should only have one single ISSN. This will be communicated to editors who want the catalogue to include their electronic versions, informing them that they have to apply for an additional ISSN. Between now and mid-November Ana Maria Flores, in coordination with the ISSN international centre, will draft a warning informing editors of this detail. 11. A frequently asked questions space will be created on the Latindex website (main page). Latindex members will send their suggestions to Octavio Alonso before the end of the year, for final compilation and subsequent translation into the System languages. 12. Evaluation criteria for journals need to be directly accessible in the editors' space in the Latindex website. In addition, the ISSN needs to be promoted within this space for journals that don't have it, and the application needs to be made with their National Centre or the International Centre in Paris. For this purpose, Ana Maria Flores will send Octavio Alonso a text draft with guidance for editors before December. 13. Miguel Angel Mejia will carry out the adjustments to the Latindex website, on the basis of the comments and recommendations made during the analysis of the new version. 14. A commission will be set up to work on the definitions of the different types of journals (technical-professionals, academic, scientific, etc.), whose final work will be ready before March 2008. The commission will comprise Marcela Aguirre (coordinator), Carmen Urdí Saray Cordoba, Octavio Alonso and Isabel Recavarren. With the month of July as a deadline, all the countries will send the results of an analysis starting from the application of the list of criteria for a selection of academic and technical-professional journals. 15. The name of the "Ídice de recursos electronicos" (Electronic Resources Index) will be changed to "Enlace a revistas electronicas" (Link to electronic journals). 16. Argentina, Mexico and Spain will make up a team that will draw up a project profile "Portal of Portals" for raising funds. 17. In relation to the provision of additional information resources, Marcela Aguirre, Suely Mafia and Snejanka Penkova (the latter as coordinator) will be in charge of developing, by December of this year at the latest, the instrument for the demand that exists for these services in each country. The survey will be applied in each country. It will be published as from February, until April. The results will be processed in May for presentation at the next meeting. 18. Together with the Latindex meeting in 2009, the organization of a workshop on basic nuclei of journals will be planned, seeking support from national science and technology councils in each country. The program committee will be made up of Beatriz Calleja, Elea Giméz, Octavio Castillo, Isabel Recavarren, Saray Cordoba and Ana Maria Cetto. 19. Roberto Zambrana will extract a press release based on the Latindex meeting in Buenos Aires to be sent to all media. 20. Miguel Angel Mejia, by the end of the year, will add the epigraph "Latin Americanists" to the list of countries and the REDIAL option to the list of databases and indexing services. 21. A specific agreement between Latindex and REDIAL will be signed. Michè Bincaz will prepare a proposal, which will be sent to Ana MaríCetto and to Octavio Alonso. 22. On the question of the participation of some countries in the Latindex system, the following was agreed: a) In the case of Bolivia, Roberto Zambrana will contact the Bolivian Book Chamber, to see whether this institution might be able to take on Latindex representation in this country. He will also speak to the Science and Technology Vice Ministry and the AUTAPO Foundation, institutions that are interested in representation, and will send a report by the end of 2007 for the final decision to be taken. b) In the case of Ecuador, Octavio Alonso will come to an agreement with the SENACYT colleague about this institution taking on the official representation of Latindex in this country. c) In the case of Nicaragua, Ana Maria Cetto and Octavio Alonso will send CONICYT a letter telling them that, by agreement in the XIII Meeting, their representation of Latindex is being terminated, due to the lack of activity detected. d) In the case of Uruguay, the colleagues from Argentina will send Octavio Alonso and Ana Maria Cetto suggestions about institutions and colleagues who could take on the Latindex representation in Uruguay due to the restructuring of DINACYT. e) Finally, it was recommended that in the future, when a new institution joins, there should be a paragraph indicating that when an institution can no longer act as national representative, it should inform the President and General Coordinator of Latindex, for them to take the appropriate decisions. 23. That the Latindex national centers should act as a link between the editors and the ISSN International Centre, managing the registration of titles in the countries where there is no national ISSN centre. 24. Include ISSN and title identification modules in the virtual course. 25. Octavio Alonso will ask the ISSN International Centre to send the existing information about ISSN-L. He will contact Anna Callejóatheu. 26. Miguel Angel Mejia will include the 776 field in the Latindex records. 27. Suely Maffia will send Miguel Angel Mejia, at the beginning of November, an example of 10 records that were imported from the ISSN in the MARC 21 format, with the aim of verifying the possibility of importing them from Latindex. 28. An application will be made to INASP to sponsor next year's Latindex annual technical meeting in Panama, and the possibility of them also supporting a workshop for editors in the Dominican Republic, preferably with a regional component, will also be explored. Redacción: Giovanna Riggio Roberto Zambrana