Last data updates: 15 April 2015
Monge-Nájera, J. and Ho, Y.S.* (2012), Costa Rica publications in the Science Citation Index
Expanded: A bibliometric analysis for 1981-2010. Revista de Biología Tropical, 60 (4),
1649-1661.
Document type: Article Language: English Cited references: 27 Times cited: 5 Times self cited: 2
Abstract: Despite of its small size, the Central American country of Costa Rica is internationally
recognized as one of the world leaders in conservation and as the Central American leader in
science. There have been no recent studies on the country’s scientific production. The objective
of this study was to analyze the Costa Rican scientific output as represented in the Science
Citation Index Expanded. All documents with “Costa Rica” in the address field from 1981 to
2010 were included (total 6 801 publications). Articles (79%) were more frequent than other
types of publication and were mostly in English (83%). Revista de Biologia Tropical published
the most articles (17%), followed by Toxicon and Turrialba (2.5%). The New England Journal of
Medicine had the highest impact factor (53.484) with nine articles. Of 5 343 articles with known
institutional address, 63% were internationally collaborative articles (most with the USA) with h
index 91 and citation per publication 18. A total of 81% of all articles were inter-institutionally
collaborative articles, led by the Universidad de Costa Rica. This reflects research and education
agreements among these countries. Universidad de Costa Rica ranked top one in
inter-institutionally collaborative articles, the rank of the total inter-institutionally collaborative
articles, and the rank of first author articles and corresponding author articles. Studied subjects
and journals in our sample are in agreement with dominant science fields and journals in Costa
Rica. Articles with the highest citation were published in New England Journal of Medicine. The
largest citation of medical articles reflects the general interest and wider readership of this
subject. All corresponding and first authors of the high impact articles were not from Costa Rica.
In conclusion, the scientific output of Costa Rican authors is strong in the areas related to
conservation but the impact is higher for biomedical articles, and Costa Rican authors need to
improve their position within research teams. Rev. Biol. Trop. 60 (4): 1649-1661. Epub 2012
December 01.
Author Keywords: SCI-Expanded; Web of Science; Research Trend; Bibliometry; Citation; Impact
Factor
KeyWords Plus: Snake-Venoms; Polyvalent Antivenom; Amphibian Declines; Rain-Forest; Cancer;
Neutralization; Anniversary; History; Trends; Output
Reprint Address: Ho, YS (reprint author), Asia Univ, Trend Res Ctr, Taichung 41354, Taiwan.
Addresses:
[ 1 ] Univ Costa Rica, San Jose 2060, Costa Rica
[ 2 ] Asia Univ, Trend Res Ctr, Taichung 41354, Taiwan
E-mail Address: julianmonge@gmail.com; ysho@asia.edu.tw
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of records related to the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS) in BINABITROP, a
comprehensive database about Costa Rican biology. Revista de Biologia Tropical, 61 (2),
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