Clustering of Top 50 Latin American Universities in SIR, QS, ARWU, and Webometrics Rankings

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The 3rd International Workshop on Connected & Intelligent Mobility (CIM 2019) The 3rd InternationalNovember Workshop4-7, on 2019, Connected & Intelligent Coimbra, Portugal Mobility (CIM 2019) November 4-7, 2019, Coimbra, Portugal

Clustering of Top 50 Latin American Universities in SIR, QS, Clustering of Top 50 Latin American Universities in SIR, QS, ARWU, and Webometrics Rankings ARWU, and Webometrics Rankings

Maritza Torres-Samuel a*, Carmen Luisa Vásquezbb; Marisabel Luna Cardozobb; Nunziatina a Maritza Torres-SamuelBucci *, Carmen LuisaViloria Vásquez ; Marisabel Luna b c c Cardozo ; Nunziatina ; Amelec ; Danelys Cabrera Buccib; Amelec Viloriac; Danelys Cabrerac a Universidad Centroccidental Lisandro Alvarado, Barquisimeto, Venezuela a Nacional Experimental Politécnica Antonio José de Sucre, Barquisimeto,Venezuela Universidad Universidad Centroccidental Lisandro Alvarado, Barquisimeto, Venezuela b Universidad de la Costa, Antonio Barranquilla, Colombia Universidad Nacional cExperimental Politécnica José de Sucre, Barquisimeto,Venezuela c Universidad de la Costa, Barranquilla, Colombia b

Abstract Abstract

Every year, international rankings of the universities are published reflecting their positioning through the Every year,of international the universities are published their The positioning through the evaluation academic andrankings research of quality criteria established in their reflecting methodologies. positioning of Latin evaluation of academicin and research reflects quality the criteria established in generate their methodologies. The positioning of Latin American universities the rankings ability to research, results, and publish scientific output to American in the rankings reflects the ability to research, generate results, and linkage. publish scientific output to be cited, asuniversities well as evidence of academic excellence, capacity for innovation and social The present study be cited, the as well as of evidence of academic excellence, foreighty-five innovationLatin and social linkage. The present study presents results a descriptive analysis based on capacity clusters of American universities located in presents the results of a descriptive analysis based on clusters of eighty-five Latin American universities located in the first fifty positions of ARWU, SIR Scimago, QS and Webometrics rankings, according to their most recent the first published fifty positions of the ARWU, SIR Scimago, QS the anduniversities Webometrics rankings, according their most recent editions during year 2019, highlighting located in Brazil, Chile,toMexico, Argentina editions published during the year 2019, highlighting the universities located in Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Argentina and Colombia, countries that host 90% of the best positioned universities in Latin America. and Colombia, countries that host 90% of the best positioned universities in Latin America. © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. © 2019 2019 The Authors. Published by B.V. © The Authors. by Elsevier Elsevier This is an open accessPublished article under the CC B.V. BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) This is an open access article under theConference CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) Peer-review under responsibility of the Program Chairs. Peer-review under responsibility of the Conference Program Chairs. Peer-review under responsibility of the Conference Program Chairs. Keywords: Universitty Rankings, Latin America, ARWU, SIR Scimago, QS,Webometrics Keywords: Universitty Rankings, Latin America, ARWU, SIR Scimago, QS,Webometrics

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +58-424-5308960 address:author. [email protected] * E-mail Corresponding Tel.: +58-424-5308960 E-mail address: [email protected] 1877-0509 © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. 1877-0509 © 2019 Thearticle Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) Peer-review under responsibility of the Conference Program Chairs. This is an open access article under CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) Peer-review under responsibility of the Conference Program Chairs. 1877-0509 © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) Peer-review under responsibility of the Conference Program Chairs. 10.1016/j.procs.2019.11.063

Maritza Torres-Samuel et al. / Procedia Computer Science 160 (2019) 467–472 Torres-Samuel, Vásquez, Luna, Bucci, Viloria, Cabrera / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2019) 000–000

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1. Introduction In the globalized scenario of higher education, universities must face the challenge of enhancing the visibility of their academic and scientific processes [1], by making visible the achievements of their researchers and their university institution. This information is used by international organizations, including those responsible for evaluating the positioning of higher education institutions by comparing their academic and research performance. The positioning that each institution occupies in a ranking depends on the methodology used for the data collection and analysis, and the visibility of the evaluable data. This assumption implies making efficient use of the resources assigned to research, publishing results in quality scientific journals, achieving academic excellence, and international prestige [2]. The world university rankings of SIR-Scimago, Webometrics, QS, and ARWU Shanghai represent different evaluation systems that emphasize criteria ranging from publication quality, citation index, academic excellence, innovation capacity, web visibility, and social relations. This diversity of criteria gives rise to differences in positioning in their classifications. However, a high percentage of university institutions are in similar positions in these rankings, both globally and in Latin America [3]. In this sense, Aguillo [4] agrees that there are reasonable similarities between the rankings, even when they apply different evaluation methodologies. On the other hand, government policies and guidelines, especially in Latin American countries, regarding research and development in science and technology, have an impact on the research performance and academic quality of their higher education institutions [5], highlighting universities favorably ranked in the Webometrics Ranking corresponding to countries with government policies aimed at strengthening doctoral training, as well as allocating budgets to finance research projects [6]. In the recently published SIR IBER 2019 assessment report, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Venezuela, Cuba, Peru, Uruguay, and Ecuador stand out as the ten best positioned countries and, in addition, in most of them, an evolution of their scientific production since 2010 with an increase of approximately 30% [7]. In the same order, it points out that the indicators of open access and capacity to publish scientific journals show the interest that exists in Latin American higher education institutions (HEIs) in facilitating access to quality research results for society in general [7]. The fact that Latin American public universities lead these positions over private universities stands out [7,8]. This study develops a descriptive analysis based on clusters of Latin American universities positioned in the world rankings of universities: ARWU, SIR Scimago, QS, and Webometrics in their 2019 editions and positioned among the Top 50. The method, the selection of universities, the results and the conclusions are presented below. 2. Method The study corresponds to a descriptive research with purpose of characterizing the universities and countries of the selected sample, and follows the cross-sectional design since the data collection took place at a single time. The positioning of the Latin American universities in the respective web portals of the following four IES world rankings was observed: • • • •

Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), 2019 [9]. Scimago Institutions Rankings (SIR) Latin America, year 2019 [10]. The QS World University Rankings, QS Latin America University Rankings, year 2019 [11]. Ranking Web of Latin American Universities (Webometric), edition July 2019 [12].

Eighty-five universities or higher education institutes were identified which are in the top fifty positions (Top 50) in the respective Latin American rankings. Clusters were constructed considering the frequency of presence of universities in the Top 50 of the four rankings, their positioning, and countries for applying the descriptive statistical analysis. It should be noted that several universities can occupy the same position within a ranking, so in the case of SIR more than 50 universities were identified in the respective sample. Table 1 describes the sample of Latin American universities collected by ranking.



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Table 1. Number of Latin American universities in the Top50 of the 2019 rankings: SIR, QS, ARWU, and WEBOMETRICS. Latin American Top 50

Total

SIR2019

QS2019

ARWU2019

Web2019(Jul)

Universities

58

50

36

50

85

3. Results The eighty-five (85) universities identified in the first 50 Latin American positions of the four revised rankings, ARWU, SIR Scimago, QS, and Webometrics (edition published in July) during the year 2019, are mainly found in Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Mexico, and Colombia representing 89% (cluster 1, see Table 2). Among these, 22 universities (29%) that appear simultaneously in the Top 50 of the four studied rankings (see Tables 3 and 4) and that are located in the aforementioned countries stand out. Brazil leads the Top 50 with almost 45% of the universities. In the second cluster there are 9 Latin American Top 50 universities located in Peru, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, and Jamaica. Regarding the rankings, there is a relevant positioning (72%) of the universities of cluster 1 in SIR Scimago, in addition, 60% are in the Top 50 of 3 or 4 rankings. In the case of the universities of the second cluster, their highest position is in the QS ranking (78%) and 66% are in the Top 50 of a single ranking, as shown in Tables 2 and 3. Table 2. Distribution Clusters by country of Universities that are in the Latin American TOP50 in SIR, QS, ARWU and Webometrics, in their editions for 2019 Number of universities in Top 50

Cluster 1 89%

Country

SIR2019

QS2019

ARWU2019

Web2019(Jul)

Brazil

BRA

38

32

16

23

28

Chile

CHI

15

10

9

5

4

Mexico

MEX

10

4

7

ARG

8

4

Colombia

COL

5

5

7 4

2 3

8

Argentina

2

3

55 (72%) 1

43 (57%) 1

35 (46%)

46 (61%) 1

Subtotal

Cluster 2 11%

Universities

3

Peru

PER

76 2

Venezuela

VEN

2

2

Costa Rica

CRI

1

1

Cuba

CUB

1

1

Puerto Rico

PRI

1

1

1

Uruguay

URY

1

1

1

Jamaica

JAM

1

Subtotal

9

3 (33%)

7 (78%)

1 (11%)

4 (44%)

Total

85

58

50

36

50

1 1 1 1

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Table 3. Number of universities by country and frequency of appearance in ARWU, SIR Scimago, QS and Webometrics Country

% Universities

Universities in Top50

4 Rankings

3 Rankings

2 Rankings

1 Ranking

BRA

44,7%

38

12

10

5

11

CHI

17,6%

15

3

1

2

9

ARG

11,8%

8

3

MEX

9,4%

10

2

1

3

4

COL

5,9%

5

2

1

1

1

Subtotal

76 (89%)

22 (29%)

13 (17%)

11 (14%)

30 (38%)

PER

2,4%

2

1

1

VEN

2,4%

2

CRI

1,2%

1

CUB

1,2%

1

PRI

1,2%

1

1

URY

1,2%

1

1

JAM

1,2%

1

Subtotal

9 (11%)

0

2 (22%)

2 (22%)

5 (66%)

85

22

15

13

35

Total

5

2 1 1

1

Table 4. Latin American universities ranked in the Top 50 in ARWU, SIR Scimago, QS, and Webometrics rankings, 2019 editions, ordered by their positioning in SIR. Latin American Positioning University

Country

Acronym

SIR2019

QS2019

ARWU2019

Web2019(Jul)

Universidade de Sao Paulo

BRA

USP

1

2

1

1

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

MEX

UNAM

2

4

2

2

Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho

BRA

UNESP

3

11

3

7

Universidade Estadual de Campinas

BRA

UNICAM

4

3

3

4

Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro

BRA

UFRJ

5

9

3

3

Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul

BRA

UFRGS

6

18

4

6

Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais

BRA

UFMG

7

15

4

9

Universidad de Chile

CHL

UCHILE

8

7

4

5

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

CHL

UC

9

1

5

11

Universidad de Buenos Aires

ARG

UBA

10

8

2

8

Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo

BRA

UNIFESP

11

31

6

23

Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina

BRA

UFSC

12

22

6

10

Universidade Federal do Parana

BRA

UFPR

13

33

5

13

Universidad Nacional de Colombia

COL

UNAL

14

10

8

43

Universidade de Brasilia

BRA

UNB

17

27

7

14

Universidad Nacional de La Plata

ARG

UNLP

21

26

7

12

Universidade Federal de Sao Carlos

BRA

UFSCAR

24

34

7

29

Universidade Federal Fluminense

BRA

UFF

25

50

9

16



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Universidad de Concepción

CHL

UDEC

31

14

8

26

Instituto Politécnico Nacional

MEX

IPN

32

23

5

33

Universidad Nacional de Córdoba

ARG

UNC

39

29

8

25

Universidad de los Andes, Colombia

COL

UNIANDES

39

5

9

15

471 5

Source: Own elaboration based on the data provided by [9][10][11][12].

The positioning of universities is different for the identified clusters, as shown in Figures 1 and 2. For the first cluster made up of universities in Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Mexico, and Colombia, its main positioning is SIR Scimago, followed by Webometrics, QS, and ARWU. For the second cluster, formed by Peru, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, and Jamaica, its main positioning is in the QS ranking followed by Webometrics, SIR-Scimago, and ARWU. The countries identified in each cluster coincide with the groups classified in the SIR IBER 2019 report [7].

Figure 1. Number of universities by country and ranking.

Figure 2. Universities in the Top50 by Cluster and Ranking

4. Conclusions The eighty-five Latin American universities ranked as the top fifty according to the world rankings ARWU, SIR Scimago, QS, and Webometric (July Edition) for the year 2019, show different performances. Universities in Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Mexico, and Colombia stand out for their positioning, mainly in SIR Scimago. These countries host almost 90% of the universities in the TOP50 of the rankings. Additionally, close to half of these universities are simultaneously positioned in three and up to four of these rankings, of which 60% corresponds to Brazil. Universities in Peru, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Uruguay, and Jamaica, which represent 11% of this Top50, are characterized by being present simultaneously in one or even two of these rankings and, in addition, their main positioning is in the QS ranking. The University of Sao Paulo and the National Autonomous University of Mexico stand out as leading university institutions in Latin America by occupying the first positions in the four rankings mentioned above.

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Acknowledgements We thank the Universidad de la Costa de Barranquilla, Colombia for the funding provided for the development of this publication. References [1] Mejía Laura, Vargas Natalia and Moreno Freddy. (2006) “Visibilidad de la investigación científica en las universidades pertenecientes a la AUSJAL: Caracterización de los sitios Web” Salutem Scientia Spiritus 2(1):10-20. [2] Orozco Roberto, Argueta Víctor, Saquimux Julián and Chúa Carlos. (2017) Ranking en la educación superior de Centroamérica y el Caribe. Revista análisis de la realidad Nacional 6(121):151-157. [3] Torres-Samuel, M., Vásquez, C., Viloria, A., Borrero, T.C., Varela, N., Cabrera, D., Gaitán-Angulo, M. and Lis-Gutiérrez, J.P., 2018, June. Efficiency analysis of the visibility of Latin American universities and their impact on the ranking web. In International Conference on Data Mining and Big Data (pp. 235-243). Springer, Cham. [4] Aguillo, Isidro F.; Bar-Ilan, Judit; Levene, Mark; Ortega, José-Luis (2010). “Comparing university rankings”. Scientometrics 85 (1): 243-256. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-010-0190-z [5] Viloria, A., Torres, M., Vásquez, C., Varela, N., Cabrera, D., and Gaitán-Angulo, M. (2016) “Ranking of Scientific Visibility of Latin American Universities” International Journal of Control Theory and Applications, 9 (44): 409-414. [6] Vasquez Carmen, Torres-Samuel Maritza and Viloria Amelec. (2017) “Public policies in science and technology in Latin american Country with universities”. Journal of Engineering and Aplied Sciences 12 (11): 2963-2965 [7] De-Moya-Anegón, Félix, Herrán-Páez, Estefanía, Bustos-González, Atilio, Corera-Álvarez, Elena, Tibaná-Herrera, Gerardo and Rivadeneyra, Federico (2019). “Ranking Iberoamericano de instituciones de educación superior 2019 (SIR Iber)”. El profesional de la información. Nro 4. https://doi.org/10.3145/sir-iber-2019 [8] Pereira, Aracelys, Casanova, Mery and Pire, Reinaldo. (2014) “Estudio comparativo de la producción científica de las universidades Públicas y privadas venezolanas”. Compendium 17(32): 55-77. [9] Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) 2019. Disponible en http://www.shanghairanking.com/ARWU2019.html [10] Scimago Lab. Scimago Institutions Rankings (SIR) Latinoamerica. Disponible en: https://www.scimagoir.com/rankings.php?country=Latin%20America§or=Higher%20educ. [11] Quacquarelli Symonds. The QS World University Rankings. QS Latin America University Rankings 2019. Disponible en https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/latin-american-university-rankings/2019 [12] Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. (agosto, 2019). Ranking Web de Universidades Latinoamericanas. Disponible en: http://www.webometrics.info/es/Latin_America_es