Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Latin American scientific output in Public Health: combined analysis using bibliometric, socioeconomic and health indicators

  • Published:
Scientometrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study characterizes the volume and visibility of Latin American scientific output in the area of Public Health, through a combined analysis of bibliometric, socioeconomic and health indicators of the top 10 Latin American producers of documents. The information was obtained from the SCImago Institutions Rankings (SIR) portal, based on Scopus data, in the category Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health, of the area Medicine, for the period 2003–2011. Our scientometric analysis involved a set of quantitative indicators (based on document recount), plus performance ones to measure impact and excellence (based on citation recount) and international collaboration. The socioeconomic indicators measured investment in health and in research, and the number of researchers. Basic health indicators were used, along with the inequity indicator known as INIQUIS. The main results reveal that the research systems with the greatest capacity to communicate scientific results are those of Brazil and Mexico, and potentially Colombia and Argentina. The best visibility was demonstrated by Uruguay, Puerto Rico and Peru, countries with high rates of collaboration. No single country stands out as having a perfectly balanced relationship regarding all the dimensions analyzed. A relative balance is achieved by Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina, though with different levels of scientific output. The tangible achievements in health attained by Cuba and Chile do not appear to be related with the results of research published in the area of Public Health. There is clearly a need to find methods that would allow us to evaluate the transfer of research knowledge into practice, by means of the scientometric perspective.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alger, J., Becerra-Posada, F., Kennedy, A., Martinelli, E., Cuervo, L. G., et al. (2009). Sistemas nacionales de investigación para la salud en América Latina: Una revisión de 14 países. Revista Panamericana de Salud Publica, 26(5), 447–457.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barreto, S., Miranda, J., Figueroa, J., Schmidt, M., Muñoz, S., Kuri-Morales, P., et al. (2012). Epidemiology in Latin America and the Caribbean: Current situation and challenges. International Journal of Epidemiology, 41, 557–571.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Becerra-Posada, F. (2009). El rol de COHRED en el desarrollo de los sistemas de investigación para la salud en América Latina. http://www.cohred.org/sites/default/files/Seminario_INSP_COHRED_250309_1.pdf. Accessed 5 June 2010.

  • Bornmann, L., Moya-Anegón, F., & Leydesdorff, L. (2012). The new excellence indicator in the World Report of the SCImago Institutions Rankings 2011. Journal of Informetrics, 6(2), 333–335.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cardona, D., Acosta, L., & Bertone, C. (2013). Inequidades en salud entre países de Latinoamérica y el Caribe (2005–2010). Gaceta Sanitaria, 27(4), 292–297.

  • Chinchilla-Rodríguez, Z., Arencibia-Jorge, R., Corera-Álvarez, E., & Moya-Anegón, F. (2014). Some patterns of publications in Cuban scientific domain in Scopus: current situation and challenges. Scientometric,.

  • Chinchilla-Rodríguez, Z., Benavent-Pérez, M., Miguel, S., & Moya-Anegón, F. (2012). International collaboration in medical research in Latin America and the Caribbean (2003–2007). Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 63(11), 2223–2238.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clarke, A., Gatineau, M., Grimaud, O., Royer-Devaux, S., Wyn-Roberts, N., Bis, I., et al. (2007). A bibliometric overview of Public Health research in Europe. European Journal of Public Health, 17(1), 43–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • COHRED. (2006). Supporting health research system development in Latin America. Results of Latin America Regional Think Tank, August 2006.

  • COHRED. (2013). Advances in the development of NHRS in the region. http://www.cohred.org/supporting-countries-to-build-systems-that-focus-health-research-on-achieving-equity-and-national-development/national-health-research-systems-in-latin-america/advances-in-the-development-of-nhrs-in-the-region. Accessed 26 Sept 2013.

  • Egghe, L., & Rousseau, R. (2000). Partial orders and measures for language preferences. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 51(12), 1123–1130.

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Egghe, I., Rousseau, R., & Yitzhaki, M. (1999). The “own-language preference”: Measures of relative language self-citation. Scientometrics, 45(2), 217–232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gilson, L. (1999). Implementing and evaluating health reform processes: Lessons from the literature. Informing and Reforming, 10(11), 2–3.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glänzel, W., Leta, J., & Thijs, B. (2006). Science in Brazil. Part 1: A macro-level comparative study. Scientometrics, 67(1), 67–86.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Global Health Observatory (2013). http://apps.who.int/gho/data/view.main. Accessed 9 July 2013.

  • González-Pereira, B., Guerrero-Bote, V., & Moya-Anegón, F. (2010). A new approach to the metric of journals’ scientific prestige: The SJR indicator. Journal of Informetrics, 4(3), 379–391.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huamaní, C., González, G., Curioso, W., & Pacheco-Romero, J. (2012). Redes de colaboración y producción científica sudamericana en medicina clínica, ISI CurrentContents 2000–2009. Revista Médica de Chile, 140, 466–475.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jeremić, V., Jovanoviæ-Milenkoviæ, M., Radojièiæ, Z., & Martiæ, M. (2013). Excellence with leadership: The crown indicator of SCImago Institutions Rankings Iber Report. El Profesional de la Información, 22(5), 474–480.

  • Macías-Chapula, C. A. (2005a). Hacia un modelo de comunicación en salud pública en América Latina y el Caribe. Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública, 18(6), 427–438.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Macías-Chapula, C. A. (2005b). Health system reforms in Latin American and the Caribbean. Scientometrics, 53(3), 407–427.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Macías-Chapula, C. A. (2010). Influence of local and regional publications in the production of Public Health research papers in Latin America. Scientometrics, 84, 703–716.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Macías-Chapula, C. A. (2012). Diseño de un modelo conceptual sobre la transferencia de resultados de investigación en salud pública en Honduras. Salud Publica de México, 54(6), 624–631.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Macías-Chapula, C. A., Rodea-Castro, I. P., Mendoza-Guerrero, J. A., & Gutiérrez-Carrasco, A. (2005). Visualization of knowledge production on Public Health research. In Proceedings of ISSI 2005.

  • Magaña-Valladares, L., Nigenda-López, G., Nidia Sosa-Delgado, M., & Ruiz-Larios, J. A. (2009). Public Health Workforce in Latin America and the Caribbean: Assessment of education and labor in 17 countries. Salud Pública de México, 51(1), 62–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maloney, A. (2009). Latin America faces hurdles in health research. Lancet, 374, 1053–1054.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mays, G., Halverson, P., & Scutchfield, F. (2003). Behind the curve? What we know and need to learn from public health systems research. Journal of Public Health Management Practice, 93(3), 179–182.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mendoza-Parra, S., Paravic-Kljin, T., Muñoz-Muñoz, A., Barriga, O., & Jiménez-Contreras, E. (2009). Visibility of Latin American nursing research. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 41(1), 54–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Molina-Molina, S., & Moya-Anegón, F. (2013). Política nacional y visibilidad internacional. El caso colombiano. El Profesional de la Información, 22(6), 529–535.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moya-Anegón, F., Chinchilla-Rodríguez, Z., Vargas-Quesada, B., Corera-Álvarez, E., González-Molina, A., & Muñoz-Fernández, F. J. (2007). Coverage analysis of Scopus: A journal metric approach. Scientometrics, 73, 53–78.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moya-Anegón, F., Guerrero-Bote, V., Bortmann, L., & Moed, H. (2013). The research guarantors of scientific papers and the output counting: A promising new approach. Scientometrics, 97, 421–434.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lansang M.A. & Dennis R. (2004). Building capacity in health research in the developing world. Bulletin World Health Organization, 82(10), 764–770.

  • Organización Panamericana de la Salud. (2007). Capacidades en salud pública en América Latina y el Caribe: evaluación y fortalecimiento. Washington, DC: OPS.

    Google Scholar 

  • Organización Panamericana de la Salud. (2008). La Aportación Regional al Foro Ministerial Mundial sobre Investigaciones para la Salud (CD48/17). 48. Consejo Directivo 60. Sesión del Comité Regional. Washington, DC: OPS.

  • Paraje, G. (2010). El financiamiento público de la investigación en salud en Chile. Revista Médica de Chile, 138(1), 36–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rehn, C., & Kronman, U. (2008). Bibliometric handbook for KarolinskaInstitutet. KarolinskaInstitutet University Library. Version 1.05.

  • Ríos-Gómez, C., & Herrero-Solana, V. (2005). La producción científica latinoamericana y la ciencia mundial: Una revisión bibibliográfica (1989–2003). Revista Interamericana de Bibliotecología, 28(I), 43–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Santa, S., & Herrero-Solana, V. (2010). Producción científica de América Latina y el Caribe: Una aproximación a través de los datos Scopus (1996–2007). Revista Interamericana de Bibliotecología, 33(2), 379–400.

    Google Scholar 

  • SCImago. (2007). SIR—SCImago Institutions Rankings. http://www.scimagoir.com. Accessed 11 June 2013.

  • SCOPUS. (2013). http://www.scopus.com. Accessed 11 June 2013.

  • UNESCO. (2010). UNESCO Science Report 10. Paris: UNESCO publishing. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001899/189958e.pdf. Accessed 9 July 2013.

  • Van Leeuwen, T., Moed, H., Tijssen, R., Visser, M., & Van Raan, A. (2001). Language biases in the coverage of the Science Citation Index and its consequences for international comparisons of national research performance. Scientometrics, 51(1), 335–346.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Work Bank Data. (2010). http://data.worldbank.org. Accessed 27 Jan 2013.

  • Zacca-González, G., Chinchilla-Rodríguez, Z., Vargas-Quesada, B. & Moya-Anegón, F (2014) Regional distribution of scientific output in Public Health. Latin America in the international context. Scopus 1996–2011. BMC Public Health (in press).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Information & Communication, University of Granada, Granada, Spain

    Benjamín Vargas-Quesada

  2. CSIC, Institute of Public Goods and Policies, Madrid, Spain

    Zaida Chinchilla-Rodríguez

  3. Department of Teaching and Research, National Medical Sciences Information Centre Infomed, Havana, Cuba

    Grisel Zacca-González

  4. CSIC, Institute of Public Goods and Policies, Madrid, Spain

    Félix Moya-Anegón

Authors
  1. Zaida Chinchilla-Rodríguez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Grisel Zacca-González
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Benjamín Vargas-Quesada
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Félix Moya-Anegón
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Benjamín Vargas-Quesada.

Annex

Annex

See Table 8.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Chinchilla-Rodríguez, Z., Zacca-González, G., Vargas-Quesada, B. et al. Latin American scientific output in Public Health: combined analysis using bibliometric, socioeconomic and health indicators. Scientometrics 102, 609–628 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-014-1349-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-014-1349-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation