Academic publications

We conduct and openly share research that informs and supports open science and education in Latin America.

2026
Laura Acion, Laura Ascenzi, Alejandra Daniela Calero, Paola Castaño, Jesica Formoso, Patricia Andrea Loto, Paz Míguez, Francisco Palm, Nicolás Palopoli, Romina Pendino, Maria Angela Petrizzo Páez, Driselda Sánchez-Aguirre, Irene Vazano, Verónica Xhardez
Academic paper

More than a NASA Badge: MetaDocencia and Capacity Building for Open Science Communities in Latin America

This paper explores how Latin American communities of practice advance Open Science through grassroots capacity building and resource redistribution. Focusing on the 2024 adaptation of NASA’s Open Science 101, it shows how volunteer-driven efforts both enable and constrain equitable participation and long-term sustainability.

https://doi.org/10.1080/02691728.2026.2669558
2026
Jesica Formoso, Paz Miguez, Nicolás Palopoli, Irene Vazano, Julián Buede, Juan Pablo Barreyro, Laura Ación
Academic paper Preprint

Perceived Barriers for Accessing International Research Funding among Latin American Researchers

Researchers in Latin America face persistent structural, linguistic, and cultural barriers that limit equitable access to international research funding. Our mixed-methods study identified key obstacles, such as economic constraints, misaligned eligibility criteria, and rhetorical differences, and proposes strategies like context-sensitive training, mentorship, and inclusive funding design to address them.

Academic paper (2026) Preprint (2025)
2025
Jesica Formoso, María Paz Míguez, Irene Vazano, Nicolás Palopoli, Laura Ación, Débora Burin
Scientific poster

Positive impact of a virtual Open Science training on knowledge and the adoption of good practices [Impacto positivo de una capacitación virtual en Ciencia Abierta sobre el conocimiento y la adopción de buenas prácticas]

Open Science (OS) promotes the democratization of knowledge through practices that foster transparency, open access, data sharing, and collaboration. This study aims to evaluate the impact, in terms of knowledge and adoption of practices, of a virtual OS training course delivered to professionals and researchers in Latin America.

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17468649
2025
Jesica Formoso, Nicolás Palopoli, Paz Miguez, Irene Vazano, Julián Buede, María Cristina Nanton, Debora I. Burín, Laura Ación
Preprint

Changes in Knowledge, Practices, and Perceived Importance of Open Science Following a Training Program for Latin American Researchers

Open Science offers a path toward more transparent and equitable research, yet Latin American researchers face cultural, structural, and institutional barriers to its adoption. This mixed-methods study found that targeted training can enhance knowledge, implementation, and perceived importance of Open Science practices, helping to reduce these obstacles.

https://doi.org/10.31222/osf.io/9pru8_v1
2025
Jesica Formoso, María Paz Míguez, Nicolás Palopoli, María Ángela Petrizzo, Laura Ación
Book chapter

Epistemic Justice and Open Science in Latin America and the Caribbean: The Case of MetaDocencia (“Dominique Babini” Award) [Justicia epistémica y ciencia abierta en América Latina y el Caribe. El caso de MetaDocencia (Premio “Dominique Babini”)]

Open science can advance epistemic justice in Latin America and the Caribbean only when it is context-aware, community-driven, and supported by fair governance and funding. The MetaDocencia case shows how collaborative contextualization, equitable workflows, and regional networks can redistribute epistemic power and make science more inclusive and impactful.

ISBN: 978-631-308-049-6
2025
Jesica Formoso, María Cristina Nanton, Patricia Andrea Loto
Scientific poster

Considerations on Open Science from researchers in the Global South: an analysis using NLP tools [Consideraciones sobre la Ciencia Abierta de investigadores e investigadoras del sur global: un análisis desde herramientas de NLP]

Currently, the adoption of Open Science practices in Latin America faces both challenges and opportunities. In this study, we analyze the perceptions of 285 Spanish-speaking researchers and technicians regarding the perceived barriers to Open Science implementation and its impact on the relationship between the scientific community and the public. To do so, we follow a text mining approach using tools from the tidy ecosystem in R. The data were collected from registration forms in the context of an Open Science training conducted in 2024 by MetaDocencia, based on NASA materials adapted into Spanish. Classical NLP tools were applied, including frequency calculations, the computation of statistics such as tf-idf, sentiment analysis, and topic modeling on the collected responses. The results provide a structured overview of the main perceived challenges, such as institutional barriers and lack of incentives, as well as the expected benefits in terms of transparency and public trust. This study contributes to understanding how the research community perceives the transition to Open Science and offers key insights for designing strategies that facilitate its implementation.

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17781692
2024
Jesica Formoso, Nicolás Palópoli, Laura Acion, Debora Burín
Academic paper

Design and Validation of the Online Teaching Self-Efficacy Questionnaire [Diseño y validación del Cuestionario de Autoeficacia Docente Online]

Teaching self-efficacy refers to teachers’ confidence in their ability to teach effectively and manage student learning. This study developed and validated a 9-item self-report questionnaire to assess online teaching self-efficacy among secondary, tertiary, and university educators, showing solid construct validity and reliability.

https://doi.org/10.29393/PA72-4DVFB40004
2023
Laura Ación, Mariela Rajngewerc, Gregory Randall, Lorena Etcheverry
Academic paper

Generative AI poses ethical challenges for open science

Generative AI challenges the ethical foundations of Open Science by exploiting openly shared research outputs to train potentially harmful models. This paper calls for new governance mechanisms to ensure that open data and resources are used responsibly, preserving equity and the common good in scientific knowledge production.

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01740-4
2022
Yanina Bellini Saibene, Mine Dogucu, Nicolás Palopoli, Elio Campitelli, Laura Ación, Paola Corrales, Patricia Loto
Academic paper

MetaDocencia: Teaching Statistics And Data Science Online

Teaching and learning are activities that require specific skills. People with training in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics who teach statistics and related disciplines often lack adequate pedagogical training during their training. This situation worsened due to the COVID-19 pandemic, especially among teachers from less favored countries. MetaDocencia is an interdisciplinary teaching community that seeks to support Spanish-speaking teachers by promoting concrete, evidence-based, student-centered teaching methods. In 26 months we developed five courses with open licenses and gave 81 free editions of these courses reaching 1,163 teachers from 30 countries. People who passed through our courses express high satisfaction (Net Promoter Score > 80%) and find them practical, useful and novel (97% indicated they learned something new).

https://doi.org/10.52041/iase.icots11.t9a3