Characterization of Latin American Universities in the TOP10 of the Rankings

Abstract

Among the most recognized university rankings are the Shanghai Ranking, QS World University Ranking, SCimago Institutions Rankings SIR and the Web Ranking of Universities-Webometrics. By June 2019, there are ten Latin American universities positioned in the Top10 of the four Rankings, despite their differentiating characteristics and established criteria. In this sense, the purpose of this paper is to characterize these universities for a period of ten (10) years (2009–2019) based on the data published in SIR, since it shows and registers the indicators for this period. Among the conclusions, it stands out that these universities are distinguished especially by their results in research, web presence, and web visibility showing improvements in their positioning from 2009 to 2019. However, after the evaluation of the innovation and social criteria, the ten universities coincide in declines in their global positioning from this sub-ranking.