The role of public universities and the primary digital national newspapers in the dissemination of Spanish science through the Internet and Web 2.0.

Abstract

Over the past 10 years, enrolments in scientific degrees in Spain have dropped; at the same time, the level of scientific culture among Spanish digital natives is one of the lowest in Europe. This study has analyzed public Spanish universities’ use of the possibilities offered by Web 2.0 for disseminating research and reversing this situation. In addition, it has studied the scientific news in the Spanish context that appears in digital newspapers with the largest readerships in the country. The results obtained reveal the effort universities are making to publicize their scientific projects. Fully 72.90% have specific channels for science dissemination and 35.4% on Facebook. As for the digital periodicals, although all currently have sections dedicated to science and health, they produce few news stories about the results of Spanish research, which is only present in 35.4% of the information published.