Publishing as a Strategy of the Argentine Scientific Community: Science and Research (Ciencia e Investigación) magazine (1945-48)

Abstract

Sponsored by the Argentine Association for the Advancement of Sciences (AAPC) (Asociación Argentina para el Progreso de las Ciencias), Ciencia e Investigación (Science and Research magazine) first issue was published on January 1945 and it was then that the Argentine scientific community started considering itself as an active participant in, and potential protagonist of, the economic and cultural development of the country, as opposed to the perception of a social and political society with no scientific tradition. It was the first time in Argentina that the scientific community, gathered in the AAPC, pointed out the importance of starting to systematically and continuously divulge a comprehensive scientific culture as a means to create its own mechanisms of social validation and as part of the enforcement of tactics representative of a learning movement, in search of public and private funds in a tough political and scientific scenario that did not consider the development of a high-ranking scientific platform as an objective. In this article, special attention is given to the representation of the scientific field, to the promotion of independent research institutes and to private universities, as well as to the analysis of the science-industry relationship.