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Multidimensional quantitative analysis of the Cuban scientific output and its regional context

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Abstract

A multidimensional approach was applied to analyze trends of the Cuban scientific output in the context of the 21 Latin American countries exceeding two million inhabitants. Output performance for each country were compared. The following parameters were analyzed: output and journals indexed at Scopus (SCImago stats, 1996–2018) and the Web of Science Core Collection (1996–2019), journals covered by SciELO, academic journals registered at Latindex, and the number of serials registered by the ISSN International Centre. The comparative elements include: Web of Science vs. Scopus annual output and by cumulative frequency, share of academic journal output by country vs. total output, output in national journals and document typologies. It was shown that either annual or cumulative, ranking in the LAC region has been quite stable despite few changes during 2015–2019. The rise of Brazil’s output either in foreign or Brazilian journals increased its cumulative regional contribution by 11.37% from 1996 to 2018 and equivalently stabilized or decreased the relative regional contribution indexes for most countries either cumulative (positive change only for Mexico) or annual (positive changes for Colombia, Ecuador, Chile and Peru). In spite of its 11th position in population and 10th position in GDP, Cuba ranked among the first eight most productive countries (ranked 7th in total documents), quantitatively outperforming LAC countries with more GDP and population. Its ranking was highly influenced by Cuban journals’ output. Some considerations are provided for a more balanced analysis of scientific output in relation to socio-economic and database indexing aspects.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the PhD Program on Information Sciences of the Faculty of Communication, University of Havana. The authors want to thank to Dr. Luis C. Velázquez Pérez, President of the Cuban Academy of Sciences, for encouraging this work, and also to MSc. Carmen Valenzuela Silva, from the Center of Molecular Immunology in Havana, for statistical suggestions and comments. The views, interpretations and statements are solely of the authors and cannot be regarded as official nor institutional statements. Finally, the authors are very grateful to the anonymous reviewers, who professionally contributed to improve this work.

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  1. Elfos Scientiae Publisher, Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, CIGB, Ave 31 e/158 y 190. Cubanacán, Playa, 11600, Havana, Cuba

    Ernesto Galbán-Rodríguez

  2. Faculty of Communication, University of Havana, Havana, Cuba

    Deborah Torres-Ponjuán

  3. Center of Complexity Sciences C3, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Circuito Centro Cultural s/n, 04510, Coyoacán, Mexico City, Mexico

    Ricardo Arencibia-Jorge

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  1. Ernesto Galbán-Rodríguez
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Correspondence to Ernesto Galbán-Rodríguez.

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Galbán-Rodríguez, E., Torres-Ponjuán, D. & Arencibia-Jorge, R. Multidimensional quantitative analysis of the Cuban scientific output and its regional context. Scientometrics 126, 2643–2665 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-021-03904-3

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