Scientific output indicators and collaboration in southern Brazil

Abstract

The evaluation of scientific activity is essential for the construction of S&T indicators. The rapid expansion of Brazilian scientific output published internationally in recent years makes this type of assessment necessary at both national and regional levels, since there is great diversity among regions in Brazil. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the scientific output from the state of Rio Grande do Sul indexed in the Web of Science between 2000 and 2010. Indicators were produced for the growth of scientific output, journals, knowledge areas, document type, language and collaboration. The results show that output is growing constantly and exponentially adjusted, with the exception of 2006, and is on average larger than the Brazilian scientific output. The documents published are mostly in the form of articles (71.71%) written in English (84.89%) and, in some cases, concentrated in some national journals. The research work highlights the importance of the Health, Biological and Agricultural Sciences and Engineering science of Rio Grande do Sul. The collaboration takes place mostly at the national level, between Rio Grande do Sul and Brazilian institutions. Internationally, the US, Germany, France, the UK and Argentina are the most important partners.