Bibliometry of the Revista de Biología Tropical / International Journal of Tropical Biology and Conservation: document types, languages, countries, institutions, citations and article lifespan

Abstract

Abstract:The Revista de Biología Tropical / International Journal of Tropical Biology and Conservation, founded in 1953, publishes feature articles about tropical nature and is considered one of the leading journals in Latin America. This article analyzes document type, language, countries, institutions, citations and -for the first time-article lifespan, from 1976 through 2014. We analyzed 3 978 documents from the Science Citation Index Expanded. Articles comprised 88 % of the total production and had 3.7 citations on average, lower than reviews. Spanish and English articles were nearly equal in numbers, and citation for English articles was only slightly higher. Costa Rica, Mexico, and the USA are the countries with more articles, and the leading institutions were Universidad de Costa Rica, Universidad Nacional, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico and Universidad de Oriente (Venezuela). The citation lifespan of articles is long, around 37 years. It is not surprising that Costa Rica, Mexico, and Venezuela lead in productivity and cooperation, because they are mostly covered by tropical ecosystems and share a common culture and a tradition of scientific cooperation. The same applies to the leading institutions, which are among the largest Spanish language universities in the neotropical region. American output can be explained by the regional presence of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the Organization for Tropical Studies. Tropical research does not have the rapid change typical of medical research, and for this reason, the impact factor misses most of citations for the Revista, which are made after the two-year window used by the Web of Science. This issue is especially damaging for the Revista because most journals that deal with tropical biology are never checked when citations are counted by the Science Citation Index. Rev. Biol. Trop. 64 (3): 1223-1235. Epub 2016 September 01.

El Salvador publications in the Science Citation Index Expanded: subjects, authorship, collaboration and citation patterns

“…This result also fits a pattern reported before that indicates the development of a stronger scientific apparatus in Central America in recent years (Monge-Nájera & Ho, 2016). The "rediscovery" of papers that become highly cited again after decades, is unusual and, in our study of Central American .…”

“…Studies led by foreigners are more cited than those from Salvadoran scientists because foreign researchers have better access to SCI-EXPANDED journals; and review articles are more cited because they summarize important amount of information; all of these results are similar to previous findings in neighboring countries (Monge-Nájera & Ho, 2012;2016).…”

“…The higher citation of health related papers also fits a well known trend because of the high world productivity in this area (Monge-Nájera & Ho, 2012, 2016. El Salvador publications are mostly cited after the SCI-EXPANDED stops counting citations, thus severely underestimating impact, a problem that affects all countries outside Europe and North America (Monge-Nájera & Ho, 2012).…”

Los primeros 10 años de Cuadernos de Investigación UNED: bibliometría de temas, autores e instituciones

“…La predominancia de autores de la misma institución que edita la revista, o sea, la UNED costarricense, es también un patrón conocido, por ejemplo, en la Revista de Biología Tropical, que es publicada por la UCR y -predeciblemente--dominada por autores de esa institución (Nielsen-Muñoz et al, 2012;Filippo et al, 2016;Monge-Nájera & Ho, 2016).…”

Where should I publish my next manuscript on Limnology?

“…The reason to publish in English, even in journals of Spanish-speaking countries, is that authors must disseminate their results throughout Latin America (Ryder, 2001). However, a recent analysis from The Revista de Biología Tropical/ International Journal of Tropical Biology and Conservation (founded in 1953), which receives manuscripts in several languages, demonstrated that Spanish and English articles were nearly equal in numbers and that citation of English articles was only slightly higher (Monge-Nájera & Yuh-Shan, 2016).…”