SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATION INFRASTRUCTURES IN THE NORTH AND NORTHEAST
A CENSUS OF INSTITUTIONAL REPOSITORIES IN THE RBRD
Keywords:
institutional repository, scientific memory, regional identity, open science, informational asymmetryAbstract
The development of informational infrastructures in Brazil reflects historical geographic inequalities that directly affect the visibility of peripheral academic production. In light of this, this paper analyzes the institutional repositories (IRs) established in the North and Northeast regions, investigating their political and social role as instruments for safeguarding memory and combating regional scientific invisibility compared to the Center-South axis. The objective of the study is to map the geopolitical distribution of IRs in these regions and critically analyze institutional narratives of digital preservation. Methodological procedures are anchored in a descriptive qualitative approach, employing a census survey of registration data in the Oasisbr portal, maintained by the Brazilian Institute of Information in Science and Technology (IBICT), and content analysis of informational policies of selected IRs. The results show a sharp asymmetry in the national representativeness of the Brazilian Network of Digital Repositories (RBRD), where the North sub-network and the Northeast sub-network highlight chronic structural gaps when compared to the Southeast. Final considerations point out that the IRs of these regions transcend the purely technical dimension of storage, configuring themselves as indispensable tools of political resistance for regional scientific sovereignty and the consolidation of local identities.