Reconstruir las ciencias sociales: un comentario de la formación universitaria

Octavio Spíndola Zago

Abstract

Faced with the dizzying socio-economic and cultural changes in our current globalized neoliberal world, study plans have been seriously affected in their structure and objectives, mostly negatively - although not in every way. Use of ICTs, didactic tools and strengthening of pedagogical training are among the affirmative changes; but the thinning of the theoretical-methodological area, the invalidity of basic preparation subjects with a view to specialization, and the abandonment of the research area are among the cons. In this era of emptiness (Lipovetsky, 2000), in this risky society (Beck, 2008), in this liquid modernity (Bauman, 2000), where “the certainty of the kingdom of entropy translates into qualitative degradation, in the disappearance of differences, in the loss of effective energy. The history of men… it is the symbolic and the rite, the empire of signs and sacrificial actions that provide the means to maintain order” (Balandier, 1989: 25), How should we rebuild the social sciences from within? How to respond to the declared war on methodology? What does interdisciplinarity pose for us in the reconstruction project?

One scholarly publication, multiple ways to read, study and reuse

<JATS>Studio for OJS

JATS Studio Viewer for OJS turns an article’s XML-JATS into a single source of truth from which reading, accessibility, study, automated reports and multi-format galleys are organized.

A single source of truth: XML-JATS

The starting point is XML-JATS. Titles, authorship, affiliations, abstracts, sections, references, citations, figures, tables, identifiers and statements remain structured in one documentary source. The viewer reuses that structure to produce different reading experiences and formats without capturing the same data again and again.

This allows the article to become more than a file that is opened: it becomes a working environment. The same structured content feeds the enriched HTML viewer, study aids, documentary analyses and PDF, HTML and EPUB galleys.

The article becomes a reading and study workspace

The main viewer uses the XML-JATS structure to combine scholarly reading, navigation, accessibility and support resources in a single galley.

Structured reading and navigation

The table of contents supports movement through sections and subsections while keeping the article’s organization visible. Body paragraphs can be recognized with visible coordinates such as “para. 38”, making it easier to return to a precise passage.

Visual accessibility and text-to-speech

Readers can increase or reduce font size in a controlled way, use text-to-speech and activate high contrast with a black background and white text to support readers with visual difficulties.

Internal article statistics

They provide a surface-level classification of the documentary resources used by the article and an orientation to reference types, distribution and documentary behavior. They support editorial teams, authors and readers who want to recognize the work’s bibliographic composition quickly.

Use of citations and references

The viewer automatically examines how citations marked in the XML appear, where they are used and which probable contextual patterns can be detected. The report is a starting point for later reading and genuine scholarly assessment of the sources’ contributions.

Transparency and XML marking best practices

An automated report checks structural XML signals related to editorial best practices, including identifiers, affiliations, ORCID, licenses, editorial dates, statements, author contributions and figure alternative text. Each journal can define which checks belong to its policy and from which date they apply.

Automated section-by-section synthesis

It selects and organizes passages already present in the article to provide a quick approach to the themes addressed in each section. It is an extractive orientation for beginning a reading, not an interpretation that replaces the text.

Automated study guide

It proposes a route for students beginning to work with scholarly literature: what to observe before, during and after reading. Questions are paired with specific places and excerpts that help readers discover clues for understanding problems, concepts, results and argumentative relationships.

Highlight, annotate and build research cards

Readers can highlight passages, create cards, write notes, add tags and return to the source paragraph. Cards can be exported as a working document and backed up for later import in another browser.

Privacy: notes and research cards are stored only in the reader’s browser. JATS Studio Viewer does not send or store them on the journal server.

From the same XML to professional galleys

The viewer can automatically manufacture several galleys from XML-JATS and register them in OJS’s real workflow so they appear with the article’s other galleys in the journal table of contents.

PDF

Professional composition for scholarly reading

The PDF includes metadata, structural segmentation and composition rules for justified text and reading continuity: headings are not left alone at the bottom of a page and a single paragraph line is not stranded at the beginning or end of a page. Block quotations and other scholarly elements are also controlled.

HTML

Downloadable static HTML

It generates a self-contained HTML version for reading, preservation and reuse. It can be downloaded as a file and has its own viewer with a lateral table of contents for moving quickly between sections.

EPUB

Reading that adapts to different screens

It generates a structurally valid EPUB prepared to technical standards. Its viewer adapts content to the screen size and opens by default with a warm off-white paper background for comfortable reading; readers can also choose white or high-contrast mode.

Dedicated PDF, HTML and EPUB viewers

PDF and HTML galleys can open in JATS Studio readers with lateral section navigation. EPUB uses its own adaptive reader. The journal can also decide whether editorial galleys —those not created by JATS Studio— open in the default OJS viewer or in JATS Studio readers.

Editorial control without article-by-article work

Each journal or context can define how galleys are built and offered. The goal is to apply editorial decisions coherently across the publication.

Choose a serif family —letters with small finishing strokes, such as Times New Roman— or a sans-serif family —clean forms such as Arial— for generated galleys.
Choose which galley types to build and which version should be prioritized from the main viewer when editorial files and JATS Studio files coexist.
Decide whether PDF, HTML and EPUB files uploaded by the publisher open with the usual OJS viewer or with JATS Studio readers, without modifying the editorial file.
Create all configured galleys for the journal’s articles with one button and insert them automatically into OJS, avoiding manual upload article by article.
Create only where galleys are missing: the module detects articles that still have only XML and generates the selected formats there, without rebuilding or duplicating existing galleys.
Delete JATS Studio-generated galleys in bulk when necessary while preserving files uploaded independently by the journal or publisher.

Processing time depends on server resources. In functional tests, creation has taken approximately 3 seconds per galley.

Complete free use and a subscription without locked features

Free use

Professional capability is available from the start

The free option includes the professional reading, accessibility, automated reports, research cards, administration and multi-format creation capabilities. A journal does not need to pay to obtain better technical results, unlock galleys or access higher-level functionality. It can begin publishing with a multi-format editorial foundation and metadata prepared to improve online presence and discovery.

Subscription

Identity customization and service benefits

The subscription does not add functional tools that are absent from the free option. Its difference lies in selected customization options and benefits connected to other services in the JATS Studio ecosystem.

Allows customization of highlighted background colors used in the enriched main viewer and in PDF, EPUB and static HTML galleys.
Allows removal of discreet JATS Studio messages inside PDF, EPUB and static HTML galleys. JATS Studio identification in its dedicated viewers remains even with a subscription.
Allows this public information block to be hidden.

Subscription-related benefits

75 %

Initial discount on use of the JATS Studio semantic editor to mark one journal issue in XML, up to 30 articles. The benefit belongs to that issue and journal and cannot be transferred to other issues or publications. The editor is used by the journal team, not by the JATS Studio team.

20 %

Institutions with an annual subscription receive a 20% discount on use of JATS Studio for the journal covered by the subscription.

PDF

Institutions combining the viewer license and semantic editor can access automated PDFs with a custom template based on the journal’s historical style. These PDFs are produced outside the viewer, uploaded to OJS in the traditional way, and may include a non-visible digital signature as an additional security layer against impersonation or journal hijacking attempts.

20 %

A JATS Studio Viewer for OJS subscription provides a 20% discount on use of the Evidentia evidentiary record service.

50 %

Independent journals that do not belong to a university or an institutionally funded scholarly society and can demonstrate self-funding receive a 50% discount on their XML articles for the duration of the subscription.

The 50% independent-journal discount cannot be combined with the initial 75% discount.

One publication, one structure, many possibilities

JATS Studio Viewer is designed so that XML-JATS becomes more than a technical delivery file: it becomes the material basis for reading, study, accessibility, reuse and multi-format publishing in a scholarly journal.

<JATS>Studio

Reconstructing the social sciences: a commentary on university education

Keywords

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