Anuario Electrónico de Estudios en Comunicación Social Disertaciones

Misinformation research. Consolidating the field in the Ibero-American academia

In recent years, as a result of the popularization of digital social networks and the rise of alternative and/or radical political forces, misinformation and other associated issues –disinformation, post-truth, conspiracy theories, rumors, propaganda, etc.– have become one of the most important and relevant lines of research within communication studies, clearly since 2016. It was then when, together with the consolidation of social networks, that had been taking place for some years, two unforeseen political events called into question much of the previous communicational and sociopolitical knowledge: the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States and the victory of Brexit in the referendum held in the United Kingdom. Both events were influenced by very polarized and aggressive campaigns, in which misinformation played a key role.

Since then, there have been important advances in knowledge on the subject. Without being exhaustive, some key discussions at the international level have focused on the delimitation and definition of the phenomenon (Tandoc et al., 2017), the measurement of its reach and diffusion (Vosoughi et al., 2018), the understanding of the factors that affect credibility and the propensity to share false information (Baptista et al., 2021), or the evaluation of the impact of fact-checking (Hameleers & van der Meer, 2020) and other techniques to counter its effects, such as media literacy (Sábada & Salaverría, 2023).

As it happens in other areas, research has been led from the Anglo-Saxon context, but the advances made in Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking academia must be acknowledged. In fact, the countries of Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula are also a reference in relation to verification and fact-checking initiatives. These interesting and important advances have covered a wide range of topics –to mention only some examples, we can find politics and electoral processes (Canavilhas & Colussi, 2022), the Covid-19 pandemic (Salaverría et al., 2020), or the connection with hate speech (Cantón Correa & Galindo Calvo, 2019)– and have used diverse methodologies –again, just some illustrative examples may be experimental designs (Bachman & Valenzuela, 2023), surveys with citizens (Baptista et al., 2023) or journalists (Blanco-Herrero & Arcila-Calderón, 2019: Galarza Molina, 2022), or content analyzes (Almansa-Martínez et al., 2022)–.

However, greater efforts are still necessary, given the urgency and complexity of the phenomenon. Although the aforementioned and many other equally valuable contributions show great potential, research on disinformation in the Ibero-American academia would benefit from greater consistency and structure, as well as greater connection and also greater internal dialogue and with others regions.

The objective of this thematic issue in the journal Disertaciones is to continue consolidating research on mis- and disinformation and other related issues, adopting a broad perspective, exploring the Ibero-American sphere, as well as its interconnection with other regions of the world. To this end, we welcome the submission of manuscripts on the following or related topics:

Understanding and characterization of misinformation: topics, actors and platforms
Causes of its diffusion and propagation: from algorithms to individual factors
The psychology of misinformation: credibility, biases, emotions and vulnerable audiences
Connection of misinformation with other sociopolitical phenomena: consequences for democracy and coexistence
The challenges of journalism: crisis of legitimacy and lack of trust
Strategies to combat false information: fact-checking, legislative initiatives and media literacy
Methodological advances: technical innovations and detection tools
Misinformation in different cultural contexts: international visions and comparative analysis
Misinformation and Artificial Intelligence: challenges and possible solutions

This issue is coordinated by João Pedro Baptista (Instituto Politécnico de Bragança - IPB, and Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro - UTAD, joaobaptista@utad.pt) and David Blanco-Herrero (Universteit van Amsterdam, d.blancoherrero@uva.nl). It will be published in July 2025, but articles accepted ahead of this date will be made available online on the web of the journal.

The deadline for submissions is September 15, 2024.

Likewise, the journal continuously accepts free-themed manuscripts within the area of communication research that will be published in the Avances section of the issue together with those works belonging to the monograph.

References

Almansa-Martínez, A., Fernández-Torres, M. J., & Rodríguez-Fernández, L. (2022). Desinformación en España un año después de la COVID-19. Análisis de las verificaciones de Newtral y Maldita. Revista Latina De Comunicación Social, 80, 183-200. https://doi.org/10.4185/RLCS-2022-1538

Bachmann, I., & Valenzuela, S. (2023). Studying the Downstream Effects of Fact-Checking on Social Media: Experiments on Correction Formats, Belief Accuracy and Media Trust. Social Media + Society [Online First]. https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051231179694

Baptista, J. P., Correia, E., Gradim, A., & Piñeiro‐Naval, V. (2021). The influence of political ideology on fake news belief: The Portuguese case. Publications, 9(2), 23. https://doi.org/10.3390/publications9020023

Baptista, J. P., Gradim, A., Loureiro, M., & Ribeiro, F. (2023). Fact-checking: uma prática recente em Portugal? Análise da perceção da audiência. Anuario Electrónico De Estudios En Comunicación Social "Disertaciones", 16(1). https://doi.org/10.12804/revistas.urosario.edu.co/disertaciones/a.12426

Blanco-Herrero, D., & Arcila-Calderón, C. (2019). Deontología y noticias falsas: estudio de las percepciones de periodistas digitales y tradicionales en España. El Profesional de la Información, 28(3), e280308. https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2019.may.08

Canavilhas, J., & Colussi, J. (2022). Whatsapp como plataforma de desinformación: Estudio de caso de las elecciones presidenciales brasileñas. VISUAL REVIEW. International Visual Culture Review, 9(3). https://doi.org/10.37467/revvisual.v9.3519

Cantón Correa, F. J., & Galindo Calvo, P. (2019). Posverdad, redes sociales e islamofobia en Europa. Un estudio de caso: el incendio de Notre Dame. RAEIC, Revista de la Asociación Española de Investigación de la Comunicación, 6(12), 35-57. https://doi.org/10.24137/raeic.6.12.8

Galarza Molina, R. A. (2022). El periodismo mexicano frente a la desinformación: percepciones sobre los responsables, las estrategias implementadas y las potenciales soluciones ante el problema. Estudios sobre el Mensaje Periodístico, 28(4), 765-776. https://doi.org/10.5209/esmp.77636

Hameleers, M., & van der Meer, T. G. L. A. (2020). Misinformation and polarization in a high-choice media environment: How effective are political fact-checkers? Communication Research, 47(2), 227-250. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650218819671

Sábada, C., & Salaverría, R. (2023). Combatir la desinformación con alfabetización mediática: análisis de las tendencias en la Unión Europea. Revista Latina de Comunicación Social, 81, 17-33. https://www.doi.org/10.4185/RLCS-2023-1552

Salaverría, R., Buslón, N., López-Pan, F., León, B., López-Goñi, I., & Erviti, M.-C. (2020). Desinformación en tiempos de pandemia: tipología de los bulos sobre la Covid-19. Profesional de la Información, 29(3). https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2020.may.15

Tandoc Jr., E. C., Lim, Z. W., & Ling, R. (2017). Defining “Fake News” A typology of scholarly definitions. Digital Journalism, 6(2), 137-153. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2017.1360143

Vosoughi, S., Roy, D., & Aral, S. (2018). The spread of true and false news online. Science, 359, 1146-1151. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aap9559