Serial publications are one of the most important sources of dissemination of scientific information. These achieve a significant task, they allow, among other things, to visualize the contribution of researchers in different regions of the planet, to disseminate different research methodologies, and to promote academic networks.
Since the end of the 1990s, it is possible to trace studies that analyze the development of such publications in Latin America, as reported by Gómez, Andickia and Rincón (1998). These studies allow for a general panorama of the development of different disciplines and the contribution of various countries in the production of information (Buela – Casal and Lopez, 2005; Garcia, Rodriguez and Gonzales, 2005).
In this first issue of magis International Journal of Research in Education, we include a brief description of the panorama of academic production and serial publications in educational research in Latin America. In order to do this, available statistics were used from platforms developed by the Scimago Group, such as SCImago Journal and Country Scimago Journal Rank -SJR-, and the Atlas of Science (http://www.scimago.es), as well as others available in the Journal Citation Report in the area of social sciences (www.isiknowledge.com). These platforms rely on two of the most prestigious databases: ISI Web of Knowledge and SCOPUS. These are interdisciplinary databases frequently used to evaluate academic institutions and researchers, given their capacity to produce impact indicators for indexed articles (Deis and Goodman, 2005; Falagas, Kouranos, Arencibia-Jorge and Karageorgopoulos, 2008).
As illustrated in Figure 1, research production in the area of education comes principally from North America and Europe. The contribution by Latin American countries is an approximate 2% of the production, equivalent to 1,424 articles in a period of 11 years. If we add the production of Spain and Portugal, the percentage of representation of research production in Latin America (present in the SCOPUS database) increases to 3% of total production (2,711 articles). This is consistent with analyses realized by the Scimago Group (2006) in which Latin American regions are underrepresented in the ISIS and SCOPUS databases, which implies that the percentage of the Latin American production is less than expected.
From this information, and from data gathered from the Atlas of Science (http://www.atlasofscience.net), it is possible to identify that in the last 15 years Latin America has increased its level of production in the area of educational research with an annual average of 9.2% (see Figure 2 and Table 1). These results are consistent with those illustrated by Anta (2008). In addition, this increase is analogous to the level of scientific production in all scientific areas in Latin America, reported by the Latin American Network of Indicators in Science and Technology (RICYT, 2008). RICYT illustrates that scientific production in Latin America and the Caribbean, measured through the impact indictors of ISI Web of Science, has reached the best growth in all regions of the world. Although this represents an advance in the development of educational research publications in the region, at the same time it illustrates delays in terms of the net level of production presented in other latitudes (Gazzola, 2008).
All considered, it is important to take into account that most of the educational research journals indexed in SCOPUS and ISI Web of Science, are not from Latin America and do not include articles in Spanish or Portuguese. This can portray a systematic bias, unintentional, which does not favor the promotion of educational research production from Latin America. For example, only 1 of 105 indexed journals in 2007 in the category of education and educational research are from Latin America and include articles in Spanish. Similarly, out of 331 journals in the category of education, only 13 are from Latin America (approximately 4%), which confirms the report by the Scimago Group (2006). This illustrate that publications in Spanish and Portuguese are underrepresented in such databases.
This information clearly indicates that Latin America produces very few educational research of serial publications in such area in comparison with other regions of the world. Looking at pertinent data: 20 of the 551 journals indexed in SCIELO (Scientific Electronic Library Online) are dedicated to the education area. Even though, we find only 57 journals in education out of 549 journals indexed in Redalyc (Network of Scientific Journal of Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain, and Portugal). Similarly, in the digital library of OEI (Organizacion de Estados Iberoamericanos) at least 157 digital journals can be found from one of the countries of the region in the area of education in 2007.
In light of this panorama, a question emerges: Why is the representation of educational research and serial publications in ISI Web and SCOPUS so low in relation with other regions of the world? Aiming for an answer, we suggest the following hypotheses.
A first hypothesis can be associated to the fact that approximately 80% of the scientific production is in English (Grupo Scimago, 2006) and a high percentage of researchers and journals in Latin America are written only in Spanish or Portuguese, which can mean that databases tend to ignore their production. A second hypothesis is that only a small percentage of Latin American journals are centered on research articles, therefore, not meeting indexation criteria for such databases. A third hypothesis is that only a small percentage of Latin American journals would be interested in being indexed in such databases, for their nature is at the regional or local levels, or not scientific.
A fourth hypothesis is the low flow of research from Latin America toward other regions of the world. Put in another way, Latin American production can be little known and red in other regions, which can be associated with levels of research collaboration among these regions (Anta, 2004).
In this juncture emerges magis International Journal of Research in Education, which aims to break regional and linguistic barriers that limit the possibility to disseminate research production from the region. In the same manner, it aims to act as a point of entry for foreign research production into Latin America being able to enrich the development of scientific studies in education.
In conclusion, magis is concerned with the qualification of the research competencies of its readers. Therefore, it aims to provide detailed information about research methods, techniques, and tendencies in education, not only about the results and information presented by educational research studies. Thus, we offer this first issue, in which you will find articles on meta research, research reports, and reflections based on diverse research processes, aiming to contribute to the growth and development of our academic field as scientific discipline.
In this first issue, we count with the contributions of guest professors renowned in their area of Research in Education. Dr. Ernesto Schiefelbein from the Autonomous University of Chile, provides readers with Challenges for Researchers of Latin America. Dr. Javier Murillo from the Autonomous University of Madrid begins our series of meta research articles presenting and illustrating the use of statistical models of hierarchical data analysis in Multilevel Models as a tool for Educational Research.
The subjects treated in this issue include articles about educational research on cognition and creativity, evaluation, educational management, and political education. Fundamentally, three types of articles were included, scientific and technological research reports, reflections based on scientific and technological research, and research literature reviews.
Additionally, this issue includes contributions from professors from different latitudes such as Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Spain, Israel, and Mexico. In future issues we aim to have a broader representation of manuscripts in Portuguese and English, and to welcome authors from other regions of the world, illustrating our nature as an International Journal.

We hope you enjoy this issue.

María Caridad García-Cepero
Editor, magis International Journal of Research in Education
Pontifical Javeriana University

Note
I thank all colleagues who have provided their unconventional support and time for the preparation of this issue. Special thanks to Fabiola Cabra, Alicia García, Rosa Margarita Vargas de Roa, Felix Gomez Hernandez and Jose Bernadro Toro, as well as to all the members of the Editorial and Scientific Committees.