Chagas Disease across Contexts: Scientific Knowledge in a Globalized World.

Chagas is the most important endemic disease in Latin America. It was progressively constructed as a relevant public issue, starting as a medical problem, focusing later on housing conditions, poverty, or vector agents. In recent decades, research has mainly focused on the parasite's biological characterization. In the meanwhile, both Chagas disease and knowledge about it spread out geographically. We analyze the worldwide scientific production on Chagas, showing that countries' research strategies depend on two main factors: endemicity and research traditions. This approach complements previous studies, allowing us to better understand the construction of Chagas disease as a social and scientific problem.

Does Size Matter? The Multipolar International Landscape of Nanoscience.

How do different countries tackle nanoscience research? Are all countries similar except for a trivial size effect, as science is often assumed to be universal? Or does size dictate large differences, as large countries are able to develop activities in all directions of research, while small countries have to specialize in some specific niches? Alternatively, is size irrelevant, as all countries have followed different historical paths, leading to different patterns of specialisation? Here, we develop an original method that uses a bottom-up definition of scientific subfields to map the international structure of any scientific field. Our analysis shows that nanoscience research does not show a universal pattern of specialisation, homothetic of that of a single global leader (e.g., the United States). Instead, we find a multipolar world, with four main ways of doing nanosciences.