RUSC v12i1 | Editorial [en]

Editorial

Josep M. Duart and Rosalind James

Co-Editors, RUSC. Universities and Knowledge Society Journal

We are pleased to present the new issue of RUSC. Universities and Knowledge Society Journal. One part of this issue was published, “in press”, in November 2014, thus making it available to the scientific community two months in advance of the actual publication date of the ordinary issue. This is something that the digital format of the journal enables us to do. Moreover, the fact that we publish two sections in each issue —a miscellaneous research articles section and a special section that comprises articles focusing on a specific topic following a call for papers— has been decisive in this respect. An explanation of the rationale behind this new form of publishing is given below, as is a presentation of the articles that have been available for the past two months.

“In press” research articles

The aim of publishing the miscellaneous research articles section of the ordinary issues in advance is none other than to facilitate the dissemination of and access to the articles that have passed the peer-review process and been accepted for publication. By doing so, RUSC. Universities and Knowledge Society Journal’s readers can access the articles in advance of the usual publication dates of the journal’s ordinary issues (January and July), and authors do not have to wait so long to see their manuscripts published.

From now on, the “in press” publication of the miscellaneous research articles in each ordinary issue will be the norm. This means that we will actually have four launches per year, the usual January and July ones, which will respectively close one issue and open the next with the “in press” publication of the aforementioned articles in May and November. In addition, we will publish a special issue in April each year, based on manuscripts received following a call for papers. We will therefore publish articles five times a year: January, April, May, July and November. In parallel, we will gradually try to increase the number of articles published each year. We are making these changes and improvements to continue to respond to the trust that researchers in the fields of e-learning, network society and universities place in RUSC. Universities and Knowledge Society Journal, since we are receiving ever-larger numbers of submissions from more and more countries.

Hallmarks and future challenges

RUSC. Universities and Knowledge Society Journal is a research journal focusing on university e-learning within the context of the knowledge society or network society. We believe that it is important to carefully delimit the thematic scope of the journal in order to give our readers, subscribers and authors better service and support. While the thematic focus of the journal defines us and situates us within a specific knowledge area, there are other aspects that define us too. These are open access, the dissemination of scholarly works in English and Spanish, and internationalisation.

Open access has been a key feature of RUSC. Universities and Knowledge Society Journal since the outset. Moreover, we are maintaining and expanding it thanks also to dissemination via social media. We intend to make further inroads into certain aspects of this area, such as the imminent display of altmetrics and the voluntary adoption of open peer-review systems. We will describe both in greater detail in upcoming issues.

Publishing in English and Spanish is much more than a language option, since it allows research conducted in diverse and contrasting geographical areas to be showcased. That is very important for an education journal, and it adds unique value to it. Publishing and disseminating rigorous research findings from diverse regions in English and Spanish is a hallmark of RUSC. Universities and Knowledge Society Journal.

We consider it an international journal not only because it is internationally co-edited, but also because of its thematic area, the membership of our Scientific Editorial Board, and the international co-authorship and impact of the articles published in it. It is a hallmark that we want to safeguard and strengthen, knowing that the best way of doing so is to be the global disseminator of quality local research into university e-learning in the network society.

Research articles and special section on MOOCs

The five articles in the miscellaneous section of this issue report on interesting studies on current topics in education research. The article by Javiera Atenas is a significant contribution to the debate on the democratisation of content available on massive open online courses (MOOCs). She advocates that the content should be opened up and proposes several strategies for doing so.

Karen Isabel Cabrera Peña presents us with a comparative study of public policies in open access models in two Latin American countries: Brazil and Argentina. It is an interesting contribution because it highlights different approaches to different problems, the aim of which is to respond to the same need: that of providing open access to quality educational content.

Students and the analysis of their academic and social uses of technology is the topic of the article by E. Gallardo, L. Marqués and M. Bullen. Its findings relate to the face-to-face university system in Catalonia.

In their article, Juan Carlos Torres, Pablo Vicente Torres and Alfonso Infante provide an interesting analysis of the various angles of approach to the reality of mobile learning. They advocate the integration of mobile technologies to suit educational needs, and the creation of intelligent systems to support online tutoring on a massive scale.

The use of Facebook in Mexican universities is the topic of the research article presented by Gabriel Valerio, Dagoberto José Herrera-Murillo, Fernando Villanueva-Puente, Natalia Herrera-Murillo and María del Carmen Rodríguez-Martínez. It analyses the results of a study conducted on students from 28 Mexican universities.

The special section is the outcome of a call for papers on “MOOCs: Game Changer or Passing Fad?” It includes five research articles and an introduction by the special section coordinators, as well as a review of a book on MOOCs. It was crucial for RUSC. Universities and Knowledge Society Journal to deal with such a current topic in a critical manner in order to provide the educational community with relevant research results. We believe that this special section accomplishes the goal that we set out to achieve and constitutes a valuable research-based contribution to reflecting on and defining the present and future of MOOCs.

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 Universitat Oberta de Catalunya. eLearn Center

RUSC. Universities and Knowledge Society Journal is an e-journal edited by the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (Barcelona).

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