Medical scientific output and specialization in Latin American countries

Grisel Zacca-González (), Zaida Chinchilla-Rodríguez and Benjamín Vargas-Quesada
Additional contact information
Grisel Zacca-González: National Medical Sciences Information Centre-Infomed
Zaida Chinchilla-Rodríguez: CSIC, Institute of Public Goods and Policies (IPP)
Benjamín Vargas-Quesada: University of Granada

Scientometrics, 2018, vol. 115, issue 3, No 33, 1635-1650

Abstract: Abstract “Smart specialization” allows one to identify national strengths and weaknesses within research fields and establish priorities accordingly. It may be a useful strategy for building scientific capacity in developing and peripheral countries. The objective of this paper is to characterize the scientific output and specialization of the most productive Latin American countries with focus on international collaboration and impact. We conducted a descriptive study based on the SCImago Institutions Ranking (SIR) portal, in the field of Medicine, for the period 2003–2013. The set of indicators applied was based on documents, citation, and collaboration. The results show that at the global level, Surgery, Cardiology, Oncology, Neurology, and Public Health are the most productive subjects in Medicine; in Latin America the most productive topics are Public Health, Infectious Diseases, Surgery, Neurology, and Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine. The most prolific countries are Brazil, Mexico and Argentina, though the ones having greater impact and more collaboration are Peru, Puerto Rico, and Argentina. The most productive and visible fields, such as Oncology, Cardiology, and Infectious Diseases, are related to major global health problems involving chronic and emerging diseases. This information could be useful to design pragmatic policies, to encourage research in key fields in order to respond better to the health needs of a given population.

Keywords: Medicine; Bibliometrics; Subject categories; Latin America; Activity Index; Scientific output; 94 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D8 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11192-018-2717-7 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:scient:v:115:y:2018:i:3:d:10.1007_s11192-018-2717-7

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11192

DOI: 10.1007/s11192-018-2717-7

Access Statistics for this article

Scientometrics is currently edited by Wolfgang Glänzel

More articles in Scientometrics from Springer, Akadémiai Kiadó
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().