The article investigates global participation in academic research productivity through the growth of publications from Latin America and the Caribbean (LA&C) in two of the most prestigious bibliographic indexes, Scopus and the Science Citation Index (SCI). Data were obtained from the SCImago Journal and Country Rank and the Iberian-American and Inter-American Network of Science and Technology Indicators databases. Tables were created for the number of citable documents in Scopus, the publications in SCI, and the comparative indicators of the number of publications in SCI from LA&C countries adjusted for number of researchers, full-time researchers, inhabitants, and national research and development (R&D) expenditure. The countries with the highest number of publications since 1990 SCI and 1996 Scopus were Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Chile. Colombia shows the largest growth in research productivity over the periods studied and became in 2010 the country with the fifth highest number of publications in both indexes. Comparative indicators adjusted for numbers of researchers, population and national R&D expenditures do not show clear differences in performance across countries. The article concludes with suggestions for the need to provide greater contextual analysis and including other bibliographic indexes and databases in order to have a fuller understanding of the reasons for particular levels of research productivity across LA&C countries.
AbstrakArtikel ini bertujuan menganalisa perkembangan publikasi dari Amerika Latin dan Karibia di sistem indeks yang paling prestisius, yaitu Scopus dan Science Citation Index (SCI). Data diperoleh dari bank data Jurnal SCJ SCImago and Country Rank dan the Iberic-American and Inter-American Network of Science and Technology Indicators. Terdapat tiga tabel; satu untuk jumlah dokumen yang dikutip di Scopus, satu untuk publikasi di SCI, dan satu tabel untuk indikator perbandingan jumlah publikasi di SCI berdasarkan jumlah peneliti, peneliti full-time, keanggotaan, dan biaya riset dan pengembangan di masing-masing negara. Negara dengan jumlah publikasi tertinggi sejak 1990 (SCI) dan 1996 (Scopus) adalah Brazil, Meksiko, Argentina dan Chili. Mereka berhasil mempertahankan dominasinya. Kolombia menunjukkan pertumbuhan terbesar dan pada tahun 2010 menjadi negara kelima dengan angka publikasi tertinggi di kedua indeks. Indikator perbandingan tidak menunjukkan perbedaan yang jelas pada aspek performa. Diperlukan analisis yang lebih kontekstual untuk memahami performa setiap negara, termasuk mengkaji bank data lain untuk hasil analisa yang lebih menyeluruh.