ANALYSIS OF ACADEMIC NETWORKS AND SCIENTIFIC TRENDS IN COMMUNICATION IN SPANISH UNIVERSITIES

The scientific production in communication has increased in Spain in recent years, as indicated by several studies on the creation of research groups, networks of researchers and research typologies (Martinez-Nicolas and Saperas, 2016). In this sense, the analysis of scientific production is one of the aspects with greater growth in the field of communication (Van Leeuwen et al., 2001; Park y Leydesdorff, 2008). Unlike other fields such as engineering or science, the academic networks in communication are not yet firmly consolidated. This bibliometric study analyzes the publications of researchers in Spain from Public and Private Universities in the last three years using the Scopus scientific database. In particular, social sciences in the core of communication. The existing academic networks are determined, the potential ones and the possible deficiencies for which other researchers are not in the network. These same publications also analyze the most relevant issues in the same period and the trends of the articles of communication in the last three years.