Analysis scientific production from Ecuador and the impacto of international collaboration in the period 2006-2015

Abstract

Ecuador's research outputs has been historically low when compared with other major Latin-American countries, largely due to a lack of a proper research culture that promotes adequate conditions for the research process and to the lack of priorization of research in universities. However, over the past 10 years, the government has introduced several policies to remedy this situation. We present here a bibliometric analysis of Ecuadorian research production along the period 2006-2015. Results show that the scientific production of Ecuador has increased 5.16 times over the past years, which exceeds Latin-American growth. Over 80% of Ecuadorian publications include international collaboration, mainly with the USA, Spain, UK, Germany, France, Brazil and Colombia. Public policy implications are also discussed.