Training needs of the editors of the University of Costa Rica

Abstract

The growth of the need for reliable information has led scientific journals to position themselves as reliable information media, which entails a need for the professionalization of this work that guarantees the reliability and rigor of this. The objective of this manuscript was to identify the training needs of the professionals in charge of the editorial management of the scientific journals of the University of Costa Rica. The research was carried out from January 2019 to June 2020, through a descriptive qualitative approach, with qualitative collection techniques. The editors and directors of the main journals positioned in the first ten places of the UCR index ranking (November 4^th, 2019) were interviewed, a semi-structured interview was used with questions related to the identification of attitudes, skills, knowledge, training needs and the context in which they are developed, these represent the categories of analysis used for the processing of information. The main results shows that, training needs in topics related to the processes were highlighted, administrative issues related to journals, fundamentals of editorial management, technological tools and the positioning of journals; in addition, the short working hours that the editors of UCR magazines have were evidenced. It is concluded that it is imperative that the UCR meets these training needs, in addition to strengthening these means of disseminating knowledge and that the opportunity to offer a continuous training program or a specialty in editorial management be analyzed.