Scientific production of Bolivian universities

Abstract

Introduction: Higher education is undergoing significant changes due to the existence of agents promoting substantial changes in universities. Objective: To evaluate the scientific production of Bolivian universities in the Scopus database through a bibliometric study. Methods: A descriptive bibliometric study was conducted. The time period analyzed was documents with publication dates between January 1, 2000, and December 31, 2020. Results: Private universities predominated in Bolivia with 54%, and the remaining 46% were public universities. The private university with the highest scientific production was the Universidad Católica San Pablo with 5.3%, followed by the Universidad Privada de Bolivia with 4.4%. Most articles were original, with 1,797 documents, 43,141 citations, and 24.01 citations per document, followed by conference articles. Conclusions: The scientific production of Bolivian universities in Scopus during the 2000-2020 period had much lower indicators than expected, with low productivity and scientific performance. The universities with the highest scientific production over the 20-year period were the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, followed by the Universidad Mayor de San Simón. The number of published documents had a growth trend over time. Original articles predominated, and the predominant language of publication was English. According to the research area, the best indicators were in agriculture, social sciences, and medicine.