Análisis bibliométricos de la producción científica de las universidades ecuatorianas en Scopus aplicando herramientas de computación estadística y redes complejas

Abstract

This research examines the evolution of scientific production and collaboration in Ecuadorian universities between 1920 and 2024, based on information from Scopus. The main objective was to examine how the country’s academic cooperation network is structured and its impact on international visibility. To achieve this, nearly sixty thousand Ecuador-related publications were collected and underwent a thorough process of cleansing and standardization of institutional names. Subsequently, co-authorship graphs were constructed, where universities were represented as nodes and shared publications were represented as links. Using complex network metrics (degree, collaboration intensity, centrality, and modularity), both the internal structure of the system and its connections with foreign institutions were characterized.

The results show that, although scientific production remained marginal for much of the 20th century, a turning point occurred in 2011, leading to accelerated growth, with more than 5,000 publications per year since 2019. Sixty Ecuadorian universities were identified as active in the network, connected to more than 2,500 foreign institutions and generating approximately 21,000 links. The University of San Francisco in Quito has consolidated its position as the central hub, while the University of Cuenca and ESPE hold secondary positions. At the national level, a small number of universities account for the majority of collaborations; internationally, alliances with prestigious strategic partners such as the University of Wah and the Federal University of ABC stand out.

In conclusion, Ecuador has transitioned from marginal participation to a significant presence in the global scientific community. However, this transformation is characterized by an intense concentration in a few leading universities, posing the challenge of expanding the participation of peripheral institutions in order to establish a more inclusive, balanced, and sustainable scientific system over time.