Latindex: A tool to extend the dissemination of scientific publications and to improve their quality assessment Authors Carmen Chica International Microbiology, Barcelona, Catalonia Abstract The need for a tool to determine the status of scientific publications in Latin America and the Caribbean, their subsequent classification, and their evaluation gave rise to Latindex. Despite the complex and difficult work needed to launch this project, its designers at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) were convinced of the usefulness of their idea and they benefited from the cooperation of researchers in charge of potential member publications. Today, Latindex is a widely spread tool, a portal of portals, with nearly 25,000 journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain, and Portugal. It is both a directory and a catalogue, offers links to electronic journals, serves as a warehouse of information on products and services useful for editorial work, and includes a publication guide. Moreover, the Latindex criteria are a frame of reference for the self-evaluation and updating of journals by their officers, as well as for the incorporation of these publications into the Latindex system.Keywords: Latindex system · Latindex criteria · evaluation of scientific journals · scientific dissemination · science assessment Downloads PDF Issue Vol. 9 No. 2 (2013) Section Forum and Focus License This work is subject, unless the contrary is indicated in the text, the photographs or in other illustrations, to an Attribution —Non-Commercial— No Derivative Works 3.0 Creative Commons License, the full text of which can be consulted at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/. You are free to share, copy, distribute and transmit the work provided that the author is credited and reuse of the material is restricted to non-commercial purposes only and that no derivative works are created from the original material.
