Bibliometric analysis of scientific production on university social responsibility in Latin America and the Caribbean

Introduction

In recent decades university social responsibility (USR) has gained increasing importance both in the academic and social spheres.¹ USR refers to the commitment of higher education institutions to actively contribute to the sustainable development of society through the generation and application of knowledge, as well as the training of ethical and responsible professionals.^1–4 It is essential to study USR to understand the impact of universities on their environment and foster greater integration between academia and society.⁵ Research on USR provides valuable insights into practices, challenges, and opportunities related to social responsibility in the university context.⁶

The scientific literature has addressed USR from different perspectives, but it is necessary to specifically analyze the scientific production in Latin American universities. Several previous studies have analyzed the topic of USR in different regions of the world, such as Europe and globally.^7–12 However, research focused on Latin America and the Caribbean still presents significant gaps in terms of scientific production in this field. Bibliometric analysis is a useful methodology for the quantitative study of articles published in an area of knowledge and its activity indicators in relation to the number of publications and their productivity during a given period.^13,14 It is less susceptible to researcher bias than narrative studies for this purpose when reporting results of statistical analysis.^13,14

Understanding the current situation and trends in USR in Latin American universities will help identify areas for improvement and best practices, as well as provide a solid foundation for decision-making and policy formulation.^7,15 Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the scientific production in USR related to institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean, through bibliometric analysis of publications indexed in the Scopus database. It is expected to identify possible gaps and challenges in current scientific production, which will contribute to guiding future research and promoting academic collaboration in the region.^5,16

Methods

Results

A total of 4,075 records were retrieved from the SCOPUS bibliographic database. After excluding documents that did not meet the eligibility criteria, 150 scientific articles were included (Figure 1). We included articles published between 1997 and 2023 (Figure 2). An increase in the number of scientific articles on USR was identified, with an average annual growth rate of 2.7%. The year 2022 had the highest number of published documents.

Figure 1. Flowchart of selection.

Figure 2. Scientific production in Scopus during the study period.

Regarding the authors of the documents, a total of 439 authors was identified. On average, there were 0.3 articles per author, a co-authorship index per document of 3.13, and 18 articles had a single author. The percentage of international collaborations was 30.7%. The authors Severino-González P (12 articles) and Sarmiento-Peralta G (4 articles) had the highest number of scientific publications (Table 1).

In terms of the country of origin of the institutional affiliation of the corresponding authors of the articles on USR, Brazil had the highest proportion of publications (26.4%), followed by Chile (17%) and Colombia (13.2%). Brazil had the highest number of documents as the sole country of institutional affiliations of the authors (12 documents). Additionally, Brazil topped the list of countries with the highest number of citations and average citations per article, with 58 and 4.1, respectively, followed by Chile (49 and 5.4, respectively) and Colombia (45 and 6.4, respectively) (Table 2). These three countries (Brazil, Chile, and Colombia), along with Peru, were of note in international network collaboration in publications on USR (Figure 3).

Figure 3. Collaboration network among countries on scientific production related to university social responsibility in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Regarding citations, the articles had an average of 4.6 citations. The articles by Sánchez-Hernández MI (2016) and Vallaeys F (2019) had the highest number of citations (42 and 36, with an average citation rate of 5.3 and 7.2 per year, respectively). Opción and Revista de Ciencias Sociales were the journals in which the highest number of articles were published, with 13 each (Table 3).

In the co-occurrence analysis of terms (Figure 4), it was identified that in the early years, publications on USR referred to terms such as ethics, knowledge, and teaching. In more recent years, the use of terms related to e-learning, information and communication technologies, virtual education, COVID-19, sustainable development goals, and URSULA (initiative on USR in Latin American and Caribbean institutions) became evident.

Figure 4. Analysis of term co-occurrence in titles and abstracts (overlap visualization) and its temporal evolution using VOSviewer software in relation to scientific publications in Scopus related to university social responsibility in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Analysis of term co-occurrence in titles and abstracts (overlap visualization) and its temporal evolution using VOSviewer software in relation to scientific publications in Scopus related to university social responsibility in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Discussion

In this study, we evaluated and characterized the scientific production related to USR by institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean using the Scopus database. We found an increase in scientific production over the past ten years, reaching a peak in 2022. According to the co-occurrence analysis of terms, recent documents on USR encompass topics related to the use of information and communication technologies, COVID-19, and sustainable development.

The observed increase in the scientific production on USR by institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean was also a finding reported in a study on scientific production regarding USR at a global level between 2001 and 2019,⁷ and could be attributed to a growing social awareness and commitment, manifested through increased investment and recognition by higher education institutions in social development. Additionally, due to significant social inequalities and challenges in areas such as poverty, education, health, and the environment, institutions in the region may show a greater interest in USR.^21–23 Promoting research in this region could be facilitated by establishing close and collaborative partnerships between communities and universities. This entails working together to identify and address social issues and promote sustainable development.⁶ Furthermore, we identified peaks in scientific production between 2019 and 2022, which could be attributed to an upsurge in scientific output related to the COVID-19 pandemic.^24–26 This is evident in the co-occurrence analysis of terms, where the term "COVID-19" is of note as one of the most frequently mentioned.

There was a predominance of countries such as Brazil, Chile, and Colombia in the publication of documents on USR by institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean. This finding aligns with the scientific production of these countries, which lead in research output in the region.^27–29 It is worth noting that the countries with the highest contributions to scientific production are of middle and high income. Findings from other studies that have examined the potential relationship between income and scientific production.³⁰ Therefore, it is possible that country-level promotion and initiatives explain this finding in countries with higher scientific production and not the country income level.

The authors with the highest scientific production did not exceed 13 scientific articles in Scopus, with researchers affiliated with institutions in Chile, Peru, and Colombia being of note, respectively. These countries, along with Brazil, demonstrate clear regional collaboration as well as collaboration with countries with advanced scientific development, as shown in the collaborative network graph. In various fields of knowledge, north-south collaboration is described as part of the early research development process in countries with lower scientific development.^31,32 This influence may be observed in the development of research on USR in the Latin American and Caribbean region. On the other hand, the gap between the top-producing author and the second highest is eight articles, which reinforces the idea that USR is a young and growing field.

The scientific journal with the highest number of articles published was Opción, followed by the Revista de Ciencias Sociales and the Revista Venezolana de Gerencia. These journals publish papers related to social sciences, humanities, and education. This is consistent with a previous study,³³ which explains that USR primarily falls within the field of social sciences, education, and humanities. Additionally, these journals were also reported previously as leaders in publication regarding USR worldwide.³³ Therefore, documents on USR from institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean would be of interest to these journals and their readers. All three journals are Venezuelan and have been indexed in Scopus for no more than 15 years. This aligns with the years when an increase in scientific production related to USR in Latin American institutions was observed.

The co-occurrence analysis of terms indicates that documents on USR from Latin American and Caribbean institutions have shifted from general aspects, such as ethics and education, to focusing on current challenges, such as the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual education, and the use of information and communication technologies. As described in other fields, it is expected that over the years publications on a topic, such as USR, would shift focus from generalities to addressing its current applicability and challenges. Among the recently used terms is URSULA (Latin American Union for University Social Responsibility), which seeks to provide innovative proposals to improve the social and environmental role of universities through dialogue among different stakeholders, such as civil society, governments, scientists, and businesses.³⁴ In recent years, some Latin American countries have worked on implementing policies and programs that promote USR.^6,16,35 These initiatives may include incentives, funding, or specific requirements for academic institutions to conduct research and projects aimed at social well-being. This situation, combined with increased access to resources and technology in academic institutions, would generate greater opportunities for scientific research and the dissemination of its results, which could also explain the increase in scientific production on USR in the region.

To the best of our knowledge, this bibliometric analysis is the first to evaluate the scientific production on USR from institutions in Latin America. The results are valuable for identifying the current status and growth of this area. Additionally, we can identify authors who work in this field and the journals that frequently publish related articles. Among the potential limitations of this research, it should be mentioned that articles published in databases other than Scopus were not included, which means that some documents on USR from institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean may not have been considered. However, we believe that using Scopus, a reliable and widely employed source for bibliometric studies, ensures that the results obtained are from documents published in journals with quality criteria, such as peer review, and the requirements demanded by the bibliographic database for the inclusion of indexed journals, that is, the documents retrieved through the search strategy in this study. In this bibliometric analysis, a review of the title and abstract of the documents was conducted for their inclusion in the analysis, which strengthens the study as it ensured the inclusion of only documents on USR.

Conclusions

In conclusion, there is an increase in scientific production on USR by researchers from institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean. The countries leading the research in the region (Brazil, Chile, and Colombia) also show leadership in documents on USR in Latin America and Caribbean institutions. Around a third of the scientific production at URS by institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean is carried out by international collaboration. In recent years, the focus of documents on USR by Latin American and Caribbean institutions has been on COVID-19, virtual education, and sustainable development. Quantifying the scientific production on USR in Latin America and the Caribbean provides a baseline for future research in the field that may consider the use of other bibliographic databases, including regional databases as well as gray literature to evaluate scientific production on MSW more comprehensively.