The University of Barcelona, second Spanish university in printed press presence

A study by the University of La Rioja, published in the Revista Española de Documentación Cientifica (Spanish Scientific Documentation Journal), lists the University of Barcelona on 2nd place regarding the presence in printed media, close to the leading Complutense University of Madrid. The study, which aims to find similarities among universities regarding their presence in local printed media, has analysed published articles by printed press between September and October 2014, with more than 27.000 articles taken via MyNews Online.

According to this ranking, the University of Barcelona holds the 2nd position for its amount of impact, a total of 1.204, standing out for its great position regarding press which covers all national areas (448 impacts). This position is below the Complutense University of Madrid, which has 1.399 impacts, 493 at a national level. One of the reasons the study gives to understand these results is that the universities with headquarters in Madrid and Barcelona, and specially their media bureau, have more access to the country’s printed media.

However, the results of this study reach other conclusions too: historical universities, such as Oviedo’s, Seville’s, Valencia’s, Valladolid’s or Barcelona’s, reach a higher position if they have a high scientific performance or factors such as youth or being private entities (unless they have a high performance index on research and transfer, like Navarra’s), they mostly go for the state level impact. The study highlights that a high impact at a local level benefits some cases such as the universities of Oviedo, Granada, Almeria, Murcia, Malaga, Jaen or Cadiz, and it lists them in good positions.

Further information:

Repiso, R.; Merino-Arribas, A.; Chaparro-Domínguez, M.A. (2016). Agrupación de las universidades españolas en la prensa impresa nacional. Revista Española de Documentación Científica, 39 (2): e131. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.3989/redc.2016.2.1292

Photo: Claudio Álvarez