Selección de temas que preocupan a los profesionales de la información. Crónica de la evolución de la biblioteconomí­a, documentación, industria de la información a lo largo de cada año.
Ediciones Profesionales de la Información SL
The omission of spending on Ex Libris, Web of Science, and Scopus in debates and research on alternatives based on free software and open tools
This note has two main objectives: to provide data on the expenditures of public universities, their libraries, public institutions, research centers, and the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (Fecyt) on services, products, and subscriptions from providers such as Ex Libris (Clarivate), Web of Science (also from Clarivate), and Scopus (Elsevier); and to discuss the omission of such expenditures in debates and studies regarding alternatives based on free software and open tools. A total of 50 tenders involving Ex Libris, Elsevier, and Clarivate are analyzed. Since 2017, spending on Ex Libris has exceeded 17 million euros excluding taxes (over 21 million including taxes), and since 2020, more than 38.2 million euros excluding taxes (over 46.2 million including taxes) have been paid for Scopus and Web of Science. In the final considerations, this note reflects on the omission of these expenditures in discussions and literature on the subject, raising questions for further debate. This paper suggests that debates and analyses on alternatives based on free software and open tools lose validity if they only consider the funding required for those alternatives while overlooking the actual costs of the software licenses, commercial services, and products currently under contract.
Bibliotecas y servicios de información y documentación
OpenAlex. The grandeur and scars of a bibliographic Frankenstein
OpenAlex has established itself as the major open and free alternative to Web of Science and Scopus. Its vast coverage, however, contrasts with the fragility of its foundations. On the one hand, it exceeds 450 million records and offers greater linguistic, disciplinary, and geographical diversity. On the other, its automated and uncurated aggregation carries over poor metadata and thousands of potentially predatory journals. Drawing on this diagnosis, the article offers recommendations on when the database should be used and with what cautions.
Comunicación cientí­fica y evaluación de la investigación
Google AI Overviews and the news media. Disruption of traffic vs. the emergence of a new informational paradigm
The implementation of Google AI Overviews and “AI Mode” has triggered a structural crisis within the journalism industry, disrupting traditional content distribution models. This article analyzes Google’s transition from a search engine to an AI-driven content generator and how this shift has caused a drastic decline in web traffic to news outlets—estimated at up to 50% in Spain by early 2026—thereby threatening the financial sustainability of newsrooms. The study outlines the legal implications of this technology, focusing on the infringement of intellectual property rights and the abuse of a dominant market position, which have prompted investigations by the European Commission and the CNMC. Faced with this “Google Zero click” scenario, media organizations are compelled to evolve from traditional SEO toward GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), prioritizing high-quality content, direct audience loyalty, and the negotiation of collective licensing to compensate for the use of their works. Ultimately, the sector faces the emergence of a new information ecosystem in which transparency and fair remuneration for the training of large language models are critical for the survival of media pluralism.
Comunicación social y medios de comunicación
Expert journalism as an antidote to uncertain times
Journalism is seeking the nourishment it needs to reinvent itself and meet the challenges posed by the demands of citizens living in a networked society that moves under the long shadow of high technology in uncertain times. The answer to a multidimensional challenge such as that facing journalism in today’s fluid societies is unlikely to come from the magic touch of a guru or a creator of eloquent phrases, but rather from a collection of contributions which, backed by science, will bring together ideas, projects and solid initiatives capable of fostering a regeneration that propels a new era for something that has been, is and will be journalism in its purest form. And this array of solutions—expert journalism, backed by scientific knowledge—will occupy a prominent place in this ongoing metamorphosis, ensuring the adaptation necessary to survive in a world living under the umbrella of constant change.
S.O.S., My Google Scholar profile has been hacked. What to do and how to deal with it
In March 2026, I experienced a spam attack targeting my scientific output that directly affected my Google Scholar profile. On the one hand, I detected that an article published in 2025 had been artificially replicated across multiple entries (up to fourfold), which redirected to pages containing adult content. On the other hand, another author—affected even more extensively (with up to eight duplications of their works), following the same practice and pointing to the same type of content—was generating a collateral effect on my profile: their citations, also multiplied, were being transferred in a distorted manner, improperly inflating my total citation count and even my h-index. This note aims to explain how I addressed this situation and the actions I took until Google Scholar deindexed the fraudulent results. The purpose of this contribution to ThinkEPI is to offer a set of practical guidelines for those who may find themselves in a similar situation in the future (hopefully not).
The Internet as an archive and production resource: the rise of open audiovisual content in linear and on-demand television
Video platforms and social networks have ceased to be mere content repositories to become primary sources for audiovisual production. This transformation reshapes television routines both in news services, where the web acts as a global correspondent, and in entertainment, with the rise of FAST channels fueled by viral content. However, this massive integration of third-party material poses critical challenges for media archivists: from intellectual property management and verification to the preservation of ephemeral and often degraded digital formats.
Artificial intelligence, scientific inequality and effects on knowledge production: how AI widens asymmetries in research
Unlike other digital technologies, artificial intelligence (AI) has been incorporated into the field of scientific research under a predominantly optimistic narrative. Within this framework, AI is presented in both formal and informal discussions as a technology capable of democratizing research processes, from research design to data analysis, reducing barriers to entry and benefiting traditionally disadvantaged researchers or ecosystems. This essay challenges this premise, arguing that AI does not necessarily reduce inequalities in the production of scientific knowledge, but rather tends to widen them. The central argument is that its effective use depends on pre-existing capital and skills that are unevenly distributed among researchers and institutions. Consequently, the expansion of AI introduces a new layer of value that reinforces cumulative advantages and accentuates the gap between those who know how to integrate it effectively into their research processes and those who do not. Using the specific case of communication research, this essay explores the ambivalent effects of this technology and argues for the need to strengthen methodological and theoretical training as a necessary condition to prevent AI from consolidating a false sense of security regarding competence and a standardization of knowledge production that leads to increased productivity detached from quality.
News on Information Science and Communication for 2025
Compilation of the main Spanish and world events and news produced during 2025 about information science, libraries, internet, digital content, social communication, and scholarly publication.
Quién es quién en el Anuario ThinkEPI 2025
Presentamos este volumen 19 del Anuario ThinkEPI, una revista que nació en 2007 con el propósito de seleccionar los temas que preocupan en el ámbito de la Información y la Documentación, y que se publica acceso abierto y edición continua. Si en aquel entonces se analizaban temas como los nuevos servicios de internet, Google y la búsqueda semántica, Wikipedia, la incipiente web 2.0, la brecha digital, la usabilidad o el software libre, hoy la atención en lo tecnológico está puesta en el desarrollo y aplicación de la Inteligencia Artificial (IA). A la Información y la Documentación se ha sumado la Comunicación y ha cobrado un espacio importante la comunicación científica y la evaluación de la investigación.
Trends in Information and Documentation training: from public libraries to micro-credentials
This note reflects on the main challenges facing education and training in Library and Information Science in Spain, within a context marked by the closure of university degree programmes, the redefinition of professional profiles, and the emergence of artificial intelligence. It highlights a clear trend towards specialisation, modular learning, and lifelong learning. The paper also examines the impact of AI on the evolution of professional profiles, emphasising the growing importance of critical thinking, information evaluation, strategic vision, and soft skills. In addition, it addresses the need to adopt emerging teaching methodologies—such as challenge-based learning and dual education—to strengthen youth employability and to make visible the non-automatable added value of information professionals. Finally, it underscores the importance of ethical training and information verification in a landscape characterised by disinformation and algorithmic bias.
Quality indicators for social science journals in the era of narrative bibliometrics
In the current landscape of research assessment, driven by movements such as CoARA, there is a shift from purely quantitative models toward narrative bibliometrics, which combines metric indicators with a qualitative justification of impact. This paper analyzes how scientific journals, particularly in the social sciences, can adapt to this new paradigm to enhance their “curricular value” and assist authors in defending their contributions during accreditation and research assessment processes. The methodology involves a comprehensive review of documentation and criteria from major Spanish evaluation agencies (such as ANECA and CNEAI) and indexing bodies like Fecyt and SciELO. As a result, a checklist for editors is proposed, classifying key indicators into five fundamental categories: access and openness, editorial quality, ethics and integrity, process transparency, and impact and visibility. The study concludes that adopting practices such as Open Access publishing (specifically the Diamond route), transparency in authorship contribution (CRediT), and data publication is essential to align journal interests with the emerging narrative needs of researchers.
Public libraries facing unwanted loneliness: initial reflections from the SOLIBCM project
Unwanted loneliness has emerged as a social challenge with demonstrated effects on mental health, social cohesion, and socio-economic costs. This article presents the conceptual and contextual framework of the SOLIBCM project, an applied research study that explores perceptions of unwanted loneliness among university students and its relationship with community spaces, with particular attention to public libraries. The project aims to contribute to empirical evidence in an underexplored field and to inform future lines of intervention that integrate libraries into strategies for the prevention and mitigation of unwanted loneliness.
Bibframe in Spain: A possible strategy for its implementation
This note provides a brief review of the state of Bibframe implementation in 2025, from different perspectives: bibliographic data on the Web, users, direct cataloging in Bibframe, and the parallel evolution of the MARC 21 format. According to this analysis, it can be stated that this vocabulary has already reached a high degree of maturity, and that a hybrid cataloging environment has been established, where RDA, MARC 21, and Bibframe coexist, and it is close to reaching a point of no return. The state of Bibframe application in Spain is also analyzed, and some projects that can benefit from Bibframe while simultaneously contributing to its implementation are proposed.
Normalización en el tratamiento y gestión de información
Actions for the universalization of library services in rural áreas
Starting from the premise that access to culture is a right, and the important social role of the public library, the note contains a brief overview of the actions currently underway in rural Spain to extend quality public library services to one hundred percent of its population, with existing services and recent institutional efforts, from the governmental to the local level and from civil society itself.
Searching for cracks in CoARA: A multi-level proposal for analyzing the Spanish evaluation reform
In this brief note, I present a multilevel analytical framework for analyzing the current reform that Aneca is introducing in the Spanish accreditation and sexenios system, under the auspices of CoARA. This framework defines four types of actors that participate in the evaluation system: institutions, evaluation agencies, technicians and managers of universities and research centers, and researchers. It also establishes four levels of implementation of the reform: strategic, operational, implementation, and results. Thed ifferent actors can participate at one or more levels, establishing relationships of dependency and control between them. This model allows the identification of possible points of friction when the objectives of actors at different levels are not aligned.
From the semantic web to the synthetic web: Knowledge graphs as infrastructure for generative AI
The semantic web was born with the idea of publishing structured and interconnected data. Its adoption was limited by technical barriers, a lack of accessible tools and a weak culture of open data. Even so, projects like DBpedia and, above all, Wikidata demonstrated that knowledge graphs can support reliable and useful applications in specific domains. The emergence of generative AI based on LLMs has changed the landscape. These systems produce fluent responses, but also hallucinations and a lack of traceability. In addition, their knowledge is implicit and difficult to update. This has increased interest in integrating generative AI with knowledge graphs to provide precision, coherence and verification. For this reason, hybrid approaches combining LLMs with knowledge graphs are emerging: RAG techniques that query RDF graphs, triple generation, assistance in knowledge engineering, graph-constrained reasoning and training with structured data. In this context, Wikidata has become a key infrastructure for a “synthetic web”, where its capacity to represent structured data and its potential for factual verification make it possible to build more reliable generative AI systems.
Tecnologí­as de la información y la comunicación
The “impossible mandate.” Competencies, professionalization, and the reality of job postings in public libraries
Public libraries face an “impossible mandate” dictated by strategic guidelines that require them to be safeguards against disinformation, promoters of the SDGs, defenders of cultural rights, and experts in IA. This discourse, however, clashes with an administrative reality that perpetuates deprofessionalization, evidenced by job postings for staff without the required specific training and the increasing outsourcing of services. This article analyzes this structural contradiction, using a heritage project (“Iron, Sea, and Digital Memory”) as a case study to illustrate the actual skills needed (institutional mediation, pedagogical design, responsible digital publishing, accessibility), which are incompatible with the required profile. It is argued that, while a degree does not automatically guarantee excellence—a point that demands professional self-criticism—it is a necessary condition for addressing the complexity of current library work. The analysis is based on specific data regarding calls for proposals in the Basque Country (Table 1), connecting them with previous studies on the precarious situation of libraries in rural areas and small towns nationwide. The underlying problem is identified as a structural funding shortfall, and the legal framework (Law 11/2007, Library Cooperation Council) is reviewed. Finally, the text concludes with a call for collective professional action: to move beyond the implementation of individual “best practices” and become actively involved in defending the library ecosystem through associations—the thankless but essential work of “the third screen.”
Library Labs as devices for community mediation: Public policies, implications and recommendations
This article examines the potential of library labs as devices for community mediation, based on the analysis of three programmes promoted by public administrations at different levels: the Laboratorios Bibliotecarios project of the Spanish Ministry of Culture, the Lab Bibliotecas of the Instituto Cervantes, and the BiblioLab programme of the Diputació de Barcelona. The text identifies the most recurrent institutional, methodological and community-related challenges involved in their implementation and highlights the opportunities these devices offer to strengthen territorial ties, consolidate networked forms of work, and generate shared knowledge infrastructures. Finally, it puts forward recommendations aimed at facilitating the activation of library labs from any type of library and institutional context.
From Decatur to the Web. Revisiting Personal Influence
Published in 1955, Personal Influence by Elihu Katz and Paul F. Lazarsfeld stands as a foundational text in communication research. Seventy years later, this article explores its context of emergence, its theoretical roots, and its influence on the development of communication studies. The text focuses on the two-step flow of communication model, analysing its connections with limited-effects theory and the critiques it provoked. Finally, the article reflects on the continuing relevance of the model within today’s media environment.
Regreso al futuro: conceptos revisitados y relecturas
Digital preservation and its roles in GLAM, a job niche or a transversal knowledge?
Digital preservation is a discipline that ensures the perpetual availability and access of digital documents. It is especially relevant in GLAMs, as they increasingly work with large volumes of digital information associated with culture and collective memory. Its application requires a variety of skills, which may be explained in greater or lesser detail in job positions and which are not always technological. In this sense, the Digital Preservation Coalition’s Competency Framework is a tool through which institutions can identify and thereby fill knowledge gaps among their professionals, make new hires, and/or assign roles in digital preservation. Could we be talking about a job niche? About one or several specializations? Are there professionals with these necessary knowledges, or should we incorporate digital preservation into ongoing training?
Industrias y polí­ticas culturales: edición, producción, consumo y lectura
Ten years working with the algorithm: reflections, challenges and future prospects
Artificial intelligence in journalism has been in development for more than a decade. During this time, it has generated tangible results and valuable lessons, but it has also revealed challenges and gray areas that demand attention. Its progress, which is difficult to reverse, rekindles the debate about risks and opportunities in an increasingly complex and changing information ecosystem in need of agile and effective responses. This article offers a critical assessment of this initial phase, identifying the contributions and limitations of this tool in production routines, analyzing the ethical, social, and professional challenges, and underscoring the need for constructive collaboration between humans and machines.
Transparency in public administrations in the age of artificial intelligence: concepts and key actions
The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) in all areas of human activity necessitates a redefinition of the concept of transparency in public administrations. The opacity of algorithms can introduce and amplify cognitive, ethical, and cultural biases, influencing information, sources, and results, as well as automated decisions based on AI tools made by public administrations. This affects a wide variety of instruments used by institutions, from classification algorithms for allocating public aid to tools for medical diagnosis. To guarantee the transparency of their operation, the State must undertake the task of analyzing, cataloging, classifying, and controlling the algorithms it uses, and making this information available to citizens. This is further complicated by the fact that, in many cases, understanding these systems requires technical knowledge that the general public lacks. This paper presents this problem, along with some key action points and success stories.
Public libraries in Catalonia: A data snapshot
This note analyses the availability of data related to public library services in Catalonia and provides a characterization of these services during the year 2023. Regarding the available information, some gaps and inconsistencies are observed in the data provided by various sources. The results show that 95 % of the Catalan population lives in municipalities with a public library, and an additional 2 % has access to a mobile library service, while the remaining 3 % has no access to library services. The ratio of library materials per inhabitant stands at 2.1. In municipalities with up to 20,000 inhabitants, the targets set in the Public Reading Map of Catalonia are comfortably met. However, fewer than half of the municipalities with between 20,000 and 200,000 inhabitants meet these targets, and in the five cities with over 200,000 inhabitants, the ratio ranges from 1.1 to 1.5 documents per inhabitant. In 2023, 11.1 % of the population used the lending service. Usage is higher in municipalities with fewer than 3,000 inhabitants, reaching 14.4 %, while in the five largest cities it drops to 10.4 %. A correlation is observed between the availability of materials per inhabitant and the percentage of active users: the greater the availability of documents, the higher the proportion of the population using the lending service. The annual loan ratio is 1.9 documents per inhabitant, with higher values in smaller municipalities. No relationship is detected between the average income of municipalities and the level of service or usage of public libraries. The most frequently organized activities are workshops, reading clubs, and storytime sessions, followed by talks, lectures, book presentations and exhibitions. The primary target audiences for these activities are adults and children. A very low percentage of activities are directed toward young people, clearly below their share of the population.
The social functions of the media in Robert K. Merton in light of the digital turn
This paper re-examines Robert K. Merton’s reflections on the social functions of the media as set out in the classic essay “Mass Communication, Popular Taste, and Organized Social Action”. It argues that the status-conferral function, the enforcement of social norms, and the narcotising dysfunction do not disappear; rather, they are reconfigured by today’s cross-media environment, the algorithmic operations of platforms, and the expansion of generative AI. Status conferral intensifies through the dynamics of the internet, which can grant visibility unconstrained by time and space. Norm enforcement is fuelled by forms of social surveillance enabled by digital technologies; however, phenomena such as hate speech and disinformation may consolidate deviant attitudes. The contemporary version of the narcotising dysfunction materialises via perpetual feeds, notifications, and the hyper-personalisation of information. Overall, Merton’s theoretical framework continues to offer a valuable map for understanding how social dynamics are reorganised amid the transformation of media and communicative devices.
Spanish Early Career researchers and Artificial Intelligence
This paper presents the results of interviews conducted with Spanish Early Career Researchers (ECRs) in 2023 and 2025. The research, framed within the Harbingers Projects, focuses on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in their academic lives, and primarily in the process of scientific communication. Their voices have revealed that these researchers without stable employment are not leaders in the new technology but rather critical thinkers who reflect on its possibilities and risks, and experiment with it. However, in 2025, a greater diversity of tools used and a wider range of tasks undertaken with the help of AI were observed
Scholar Labs: Towards AI-powered academic responses
This paper presents a functional analysis of Scholar Labs, the still-in-beta artificial intelligence tool integrated into Google Scholar. Its search interface is examined to clarify its functions and identify the resources offered to final users. To this end, the tool is tested by applying a series of prompts that describe its behavior and assess its effectiveness on the first day of operation. Despite current limitations and the tool’s foreseeable evolution, two major opportunities for the scientific community are evident: new ways to interact with Google Scholar for retrieving academic documents and new challenges for increasing the visibility of our scientific output.
The future of academic articles in the age of generative AI: possible scenarios
The paper explores how generative artificial intelligence may reshape the format, function, and value of the academic article. After reviewing the historical roots and consolidation of the scientific paper, it outlines three possible scenarios: accelerated continuity, in which AI boosts production while undermining quality; format redefinition, promoting more transparent, multimodal, and open publications; and radical disruption, envisioning the replacement of the article by dynamic knowledge environments. The conclusion stresses that the challenge is not merely technological but also epistemic and ethical: to redefine the article’s role in order to safeguard trust, traceability, and responsibility in scholarly communication.
Broadband and journalism: from synergies to opportunities
The relationship between the Broadband Society and journalism (and, by extension, the communication sciences) has developed rapidly and consistently. Digital versions of media outlets are established, readers have become accustomed to online access, and more or less innovative business models have emerged that attempt to monetize the phenomenon. This essay-style research analyzes the state of the art and proposes ideas that can help the publishing industry leverage connectivity. The results indicate an improvement in access speed and content production and distribution capacity, new narrative formats are emerging, and interactivity should be leveraged to strengthen reader engagement. The conclusion is that the increased flow and guaranteed availability of broadband is an opportunity that media outlets should seize to achieve greater monetization and audience loyalty.
A law for 4,590 libraries. The case of Finland as an opportunity for Spain through an analysis based on effort indicators
An assessment is carried out within the context of international and comparative librarianship, analyzing the public library systems of Spain and Finland. The analysis is based on indicators of effort in budget, loans, and visits at the level of autonomous communities (Spain) and regions (Finland) between 2010 and 2023. The results lead to the conclusion that Finland has a highly uniform and homogeneous library system, while the situation in Spain is more variable and heterogeneous. These conclusions are connected to the fact that Finland has a national library law, whereas Spain does not. The results are contextualized for each case by examining key aspects in depth, and the question is raised as to whether a national law regulating the provision of resources for public libraries—based on criteria such as those established in Finland—would be possible, preferable, and/or effective in Spain.