Spain – Dissemination
Conferences and Seminars
Like in the UK, departments often organise seminar series, lecture series for the general public and also host conferences. A seminario permanente is a seminar defined by a particular theme or area of study which organises seminars and events – see, for example, the Seminario permanente sobre literatura y mujer S.XX-S.XXI (Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Women and Literature Seminar) organised by the distance-learning university, the UNED.
Lecturers and professors at Spanish universities attend both domestic and international conferences. For Spanish conferences, abstracts and proposals work in a similar way to British and international conferences.
In the Arts and Humanities, articles are usually published in Spanish, or one of the other co-official languages, with others in English or other languages in order to publish in international or foreign journals.
Information about Conferences
It can be difficult to find conferences by just searching the internet. There is no Spanish equivalent of H-Net which collects conference calls for paper and information, though some conferences do use H-Net.
Nevertheless, there are four main ways for finding information about conferences and seminars:
1. Email lists
Subscribing to email lists related to your discipline is an excellent way to find out about conferences.
Rediris is a Spanish directory of research and professional email lists, organised by discipline.
There are several email lists on H-Net which relate to the study of Spain.
The portal for hispanists run by the Instituto Cervantes provides links to forums and email lists.
2. Universities and other institutions involved in research
Their websites usually include information about their actividades (activities), conferencias (talks/lectures) and congresos (conferences). It is worth monitoring the websites of institutions related to your research for information on upcoming events.
For example, the CSIC’s Centro de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales (Centre for Human and Social Sciences) has a page dedicated to events related to the Centre.
3. Associations
In a similar way to research centres and institutions, associations organise and publish details about their conferences.
See, for example, the website of the Asociación de Historia Contemporánea (Contemporary History Association), which includes information about their biennial conference.
4. Word of mouth and individual websites
Sometimes conferences are not very well advertised on the internet and so contacts can be extremely useful.
See also websites that collect and publish information about events related to a particular field.
For example, medievalismo.org provides links to events related to Medieval Studies around the world, in addition to journals and associations.
Presenting and Publishing Research
There is a great deal of pressure to publish in general, and the impact of articles published is valued by ANECA when evaluating a researcher’s suitability for consideration for a university post. In a document published by ANECA providing a guide to the conditions that a researcher must fulfil to be eligible for the post of professor contratado doctor in the field of the Humanities, having a minimum of 10 articles published is considered necessary.
Similarly, students attend and present at conferences nationally and internationally. They also arrange events as part of the department’s or research team’s activities, or under the auspices of national associations at local level.
Presentations and Academic papers
Conferences are mostly conducted in Spanish or one of the other co-official languages, although in international conferences that take place in Spain other languages may be used, such as Catalan or Galician.
If you’re presenting a paper at an academic conference, smart-casual dress is always a good idea. Academics generally dress informally.
Publishing
The publishing industry for academic work in Spain is formed by a combination of national publishers, such as Crítica, local/provincial publishers – both private and institutional, such as KRK in Oviedo or the Institut d’Estudis Catalans and also universities.
Browsing the local library can give you a good idea of which editoriales (publishing houses) publish studies from the local university. Logically, it is often easier to publish with smaller publishers than it is with more national, mainstream publishers.
Universities refer to their publishing departments in different ways: commonly the servicio de publicaciones (publishing service), but also the prensa universitaria (university press), and editorial (publishing house). A Google search of the university plus one of the above should lead you to the correct website. See for example the services offered by the Universidad de Sevilla, the Universidad de Zaragoza and the Universidad de Cantabria.
University publishing houses often provide a useful guide to what work is acceptable and in what form it must be presented. Check the relevant website for details.
Journals
There are numerous academic journals in Spain, with a vast breadth of study from local to national and which are published with different degrees of frequency.
The website of the relevant journal will usually describe the process of submission of articles and the style guidelines to be followed. See, for example, the page of the CSIC’s (national research institution) history journal Hispania. Journals are usually linked to a university department or academic association. Dialnet allows you to browse journals by discipline.
Publication of PhDs
As in the UK, it is common to turn the thesis into a monograph, often via one of the smaller publishers. There can often be a close relationship between the university and local publishers which facilitates this process.
In addition, the recent legislation that covers PhD studies determines that once a PhD has been awarded, the thesis must be digitally archived in an open format by the university and a digital copy sent to the Ministry of Education. Consequently, theses are available for digital consultation and download via repositorios digitales (digital repositories).
Open Access
Recent legislation indicates a move towards open access to research in Spain. In addition to theses, the legislation states that the results of publicly-financed research should be available for digital consultation. Currently, (April 2013) there is a new ley de ciencia (science law) being written which will possibly deal with this issue further or change the way in which it works.
Many journals in Spain are open access, or libre acceso diferido (differed open access – i.e. initial restricted access followed by open access). University repositories not only have to digitally store and provide access to theses, but they are also digitizing older material for public access.
Knowledge Transfer Activities
Knowledge transfer activities are not such a priority for universities in Spain as they are in the United Kingdom. It is not so highly-valued for postgraduate students. This does not mean that students are not involved in these types of activities – they often are. As students often study in the area or city where they are from, it is possible to say that they are generally more integrated into the local community.
Universities and other institutions do organise public lectures and other cultural events, such as exhibitions. Even banks, particularly the cajas (savings banks), invest in and organise cultural activities.
See, for example, Universidad Complutense de Madrid page dedicated to culture and also the Universidad de Sevilla.
In the summer, universities organise short cursos de verano (summer courses) which are open to both students and the wider public. These courses often take place in the wider area or province – not just in the university or provincial capital itself. The courses provided by the UNED run all over Spain. Information about these courses is usually published in Spring and they change every year. For example, in summer 2013 the UNED will offer 50 courses in Humanities and the Arts on subjects such as El Greco, heritage and tourism, philosophy and utopia, and current cinema, music and television in Italy.
Glossary
Acceso abierto: Open access
Asociación: Association
Ciclo de conferencias: Lecture series, seminar series
Coloquio: Colloquium
Comunicación: Paper
Conferencia: Lecture, talk. NB not a conference
Congreso: Conference, congress
Consejo: Board
Cuota: Fee
Curso de verano: Summer course
Difundir: Spread, disseminate
Divulgativo: Informative, for the general public
Edición: Editing
Editorial: Publishing house
Encuentro: Meeting, conference
Fecha límite: Deadline
Impacto: Impact
Matrícula: Enrolment
Mesa: Panel
Mesa redonda: Roundtable
Normas (de presentación): Rules/(Presentation) guidelines
Palabras clave: Key words
Ponencia: Talk/ presentation? /paper?
Ponente: Speaker
Reunión: Meeting
Revisión por pares: Peer review
Revista: Journal
Seminario (permanente): Seminar (not usually as teaching, but as research)
Taller: Workshop, panel
Web Links
Rediris is a Spanish directory of research and professional email lists, organised by discipline.
There are several email lists on H-Net which relate to the study of Spain.
The portal for hispanists run by the Instituto Cervantes provides links to forums and email lists.
Dialnet is a useful portal for finding and accessing academic journals.