The Brazilian scientific output published in journals: A study based on a large CV database

Abstract

We assemble a massive sample of 180,000 CVs of Brazilian academic researchers of all disciplines from the Lattes platform. From the CVs we gather information on key variables related to the researchers and their publications. We find males are more productive in terms of quantity of publications, but the effect of gender in terms of research impact is mixed for individual groups of subject areas. Holding a PhD from abroad increases the chance for a researcher to publish in journals of higher impact, whereas domestic PhDs publish more articles, but in journals of less impact. Thus, there is a trade-off between quantity and research impact. We also find that the more years a researcher takes to finish his or her doctorate, the more likely he or she will publish less thereafter, although in outlets of higher impact. The data also support the existence of an inverted U-shaped function relating research age and productivity.