Scientific production profile of leading universities leading universities in Latin American countries

Abstract

Scientific production in Latin America is mainly concentrated in Higher Education Institutions located in Brazil and Mexico, characterized by the high volume of papers published and citations received. However, universities in other countries of the region also stand out for their excellence in research. This paper describes the scientific production profile of leading universities in Latin American countries positioned in the top ten of the SCImago Journal & Country Rank. Using five indicators reported in the SIRiber 2020 Report, the profile of these leading universities is characterized with respect to Normalized Impact, Scientific Leadership, Open Access, International Collaboration and High-Quality Publications. As a result, the scientific production of this group of Latin American universities, leaders in their countries, is characterized by 50% international collaboration, especially of foreign main authors, 38% impact below the world average of citations, 45% of open access publications and 39% of Q1 publications.