A Scientometric Analysis of Research Productivity in Clinics and Hospitals from Five Latin American Countries

In university hospitals, clinical care, teaching and research are the pillars of their missions. Scientometrics play a key role in the analysis of scientific productivity of researchers, laboratories or countries. However, there are no published articles about bibliometric studies of the scientific production of healthcare institutions in Latin America. To carry out a scientometric analysis of leading clinics and hospitals from five Latin American countries. We focused on five Latin American countries with the largest scientific production: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico. We examined available information for international publications, citations, registered clinical trials, networks of collaborations and patent applications. The institutions with the highest numbers of published articles are: Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (Brazil), Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán (Mexico), Instituto Nacional De Cardiología Ignacio Chávez (Mexico) and Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires (Argentina). Highly cited articles, networks of collaborations and patents applications were also identified. Scientometric analysis of health research around the globe has been quite helpful, in terms of identification of priorities for funding and support. The higher scientific productivity for some of these Latin American institutions might be explained partially by their higher levels of collaborations with colleagues in institutions in high-income countries, which usually have larger funding. We provide several recommendations for strengthening clinical research in this world region.