Dr. Germana Barata is a research associate in the Publishing Program at Simon Fraser University and a science communication researcher at the Laboratory of Advanced Studies in Journalism (Labjor) and the Centre for the Development of Creativity (Nudecri) at the University of Campinas (Unicamp), Brazil. She holds a MSc and PhD in History of Science from São Paulo University and a productivity research fellowship in science communication at the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), Brazil. She also teaches in Labjor/Unicamp’s Master in Science Communication program and coordinates the graduate Science Journalism course at Unicamp.

Germana’s research focuses on how social media and altmetrics (alternative metrics for measuring the societal impact of science) affect the value of Brazilian Science journals. Her project, “Social impact of the Brazilian Science production through science communication”, was financed by the Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP no. 2016/14173-2). She has also worked on a project in partnership with University of the Fraser Valley, Science Writers and Communicators of Canada (SWCC), and ACS (Association des Communicateurs Scientifique du Quebéc) called “Mapping the new landscape of science communicators and writers in Canada”, funded by SSHRC.

Germana writes at Ciência em Revista and Diário de Vancouver, a monthly Vancouver diary for Jornal da Unicamp. A complete list of her publications and presentations can be found at ResearchGate.net, and she can be found on Twitter at @germanabarata.

Select Publications

Barata, G., Caldas, G., Gascoigne, T., Barata, G., Caldas, G., & Gascoigne, T. (2017). Brazilian science communication research: national and international contributions. Anais Da Academia Brasileira de Ciências, AHEAD, 0–0. https://doi.org/10.1590/0001-3765201720160822
Barata, G., Shores, K., & Alperin, J. P. (2018). Local chatter or international buzz? Language differences on posts about Zika research on Twitter and Facebook. PLOS ONE, 13(1), e0190482. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0190482
Barata, G., & Alperin, J. P. (2018, July). Social media use by Brazilian academics (O USO DE MÍDIAS SOCIAIS POR ACADÊMICOS BRASILEIROS). EBBC 6, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Barata, G., Riedlinger, M., Schiele, A., & Pablo Alperin, J. (2018, September 16). Using social media metrics to identify science communicators in Canada. Science & You Conference, Beijing, China.
Riedlinger, M., Schiele, A., & Barata, G. (2018, September 16). Mapping the contemporary science communication landscape in Canada. Science & You Conference, Beijing, China.
Barata, G. (2019). More relevant alternative metrics for Latin America. Transinformação, 31, e190031. https://doi.org/10.1590/2318-0889201931e190031
Riedlinger, M., Barata, G., & Schiele, A. (2019). The landscape of science communication in contemporary Canada: A focus on anglophone actors and networks. Cultures of Science, 2(1), 51–83. https://doi.org/10.1177/209660831900200105
Rode, S. D. M., & Barata, G. (2019). Ciência brasileira: Impactos para muito além do Fator de Impacto. Revista Pesquisa Em Fisioterapia, 9(4), 444. https://doi.org/10.17267/2238-2704rpf.v9i4.2609
Enkhbayar, A., Haustein, S., Barata, G., & Alperin, J. P. (2020). How much research shared on Facebook happens outside of public pages and groups? A comparison of public and private online activity around PLOS ONE papers. Quantitative Science Studies, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1162/qss_a_00044
Barata, G., & Manica, D. (2020, November 6). Stem-cells from menstrual blood in Twitter: paper attention on social media. The 2020 Altmetrics Workshop: The Future is Now, Virtual.
Velho, R. M., & Barata, G. (2020). Profiles, Challenges, and Motivations of Science YouTubers. Frontiers in Communication, 5, 542936. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2020.542936
Barata, G. (2021). Open Science for editors II. In Elisabete Werlang & Paulo Eduardo Carlim (Eds.), Desafios e perspectivas da editoria científica (pp. 133–144). Associação Brasileira de Editores Científicos (ABEC Brasil). https://doi.org/10.21452/abec.2021.isbn.978-65-993452-1-0.cap12
Riedlinger, M., Schiele, A., & Barata, G. (2021). Emerging practices in science communication in Canada. In B. Schiele, X. Liu, & M. Bauer (Eds.), Public understanding of science in a diverse world. Springer.
Oliveira, T., Barata, G., & Uribe-Tirado, A. (2021). Ten years of Altmetrics: a review of Latin America contributions. Journal of Scientometric Research.