SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS OF UNIVERSITIES IN NORTHERN BRAZIL

A DOMAIN ANALYSIS PROPOSAL

Abstract

Scientific journals can be viewed as a knowledge domain, serving as voices that disseminate science through epistemic communities, research networks, and invisible colleges. They are shaped by historical, geographical, and cultural factors that influence the epistemology of these knowledge systems, as well as their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges. This study is part of a doctoral research project that aims to map and characterize scientific journals affiliated with federal universities in Northern Brazil, examining their editorial structures and publishing patterns. Drawing on Domain Analysis, the study frames journals as central mechanisms for disseminating and validating academic knowledge produced by communities that coexist within a world marked by center–periphery structures, which affect their visibility, valuation, growth, and accumulation. Bibliometric methods were used to analyze 147 journals, considering factors such as publication frequency, indexing coverage, publication languages, subject areas, evaluation systems, and Digital Object Identifier adoption. The findings show a predominance of open-access journals, with most content published in Portuguese and relatively low levels of internationalization. Although the number of journals has grown over the past decade, only a limited share is indexed in high-impact databases, restricting their international visibility. These results highlight the importance of advancing critical research on regional science in Brazil, recognizing the persistence of center–periphery structures that affect long-term funding and investments in editorial quality within Amazonian scholarly publishing. Strengthening indexing practices and promoting internationalization are therefore essential for enhancing the integration of this scientific production into both national and global academic landscapes.