Scientific production in communication at the Community of Madrid universities: the strength of tradition

This article aims to analyze the dynamics of scientific production in communication sciences in universities from the Community of Madrid from 2007 to 2010. Based on a bibliometric analysis of the major Spanish communication journals, selected through a triangulation of bibliographic databases, this paper determines the scientific output of each institution, the distribution of this production by journals and the volume and type of collaboration identified. The results show that Universidad Complutense is an institution of central importance, since it generates almost half of the production and is the main node of a network of collaboration that is very focused on the institutions of the region. Only three other universities stand out: Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Universidad Carlos III and Universidad San Pablo CEU - the only significant private institution. An excessive concentration of production in journals published in the region is observed; this circumstance is even more acute in cases where articles are published in journals edited by the same institutions that produce the original research. Finally specific collaboration patters were found for each university.