SDGs and Latin American University: Impact of Scientific Knowledge Production in Policy Documents

Abstract

The scientific community is an important actor in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) regarding education, knowledge production, and public engagement. The aim of this chapter is to identify and analyze how Latin American universities have been addressing the SDGs from the production of scientific knowledge and, along with that, influencing policy documents. In particular, it aims to identify whether this knowledge production has been articulating the SDGs’ agenda through its citation impact in policy documents. The chapter considers the following Latin American universities: University of São Paulo (Brazil), National Autonomous University of Mexico (Mexico), and Los Andes University (Colombia). At the theoretical level, it articulated the debate on the role of universities and the scientific community in the implementation of the SDGs within the discussions on the social commitment of public universities in Latin America. Methodologically, the chapter is divided into two procedures: (1) bibliographical and documentary research on the incorporation of the SDGs in the institutional framework of the selected universities was conducted; (2) centrally, the research used the Overton.io software to identify how the knowledge production of the universities, classified according to their related SDGs, has been used in governmental documents. The results show that the knowledge production of universities has been used by governments and intergovernmental agencies, especially classified under SDGs 10, 11, 3, 8, and 1 stand out. Furthermore, the results contribute to shedding light on incipient discussions about the interconnection between the SDGs, universities/scientific knowledge production, and public policies.