Scientific collaboration of the Mercosur countries as an indicator of Latin American regional activity

This study investigated the trends in international scientific collaboration of the four Mercosur countries — Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay — both among themselves and with other partners, prior to and after 1991 when the alliance was officially formed. Two databases were used — the mainstream Science Citation Index (SCI) and the regional Periodica. Intra-Mercosur collaboration was better represented in the SCI than in Periodica. SCI data show a general upward trend for intra-Mercosur collaborations from 1980 to 1995, specifically with respect to bilateral co-authorships between Argentina and Brazil. This is particularly notable since 1986 when two important scientific and technological collaboration programmes were established between these two countries. The importance is discussed of interpreting quantitative data in the light of contextual qualitative information on the countries under study. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.