Characterization Of Universities In Countries With High GDP Investment In Research And Development

Abstract

Investment in public spending on research and development is a widely used indicator in studies of countries on their economic development, innovation and research. According to the World Bank, 36 countries (16.6%) devote 1% or more of their GDP to this sector. A descriptive analysis of the main universities by country in this group is carried out with respect to their positioning in rankings of scientific production, age and type of institution, applying descriptive statistics and clustering. The Research and Development expenditure (% of GDP) of the countries did not show significant correlation with the number of universities ranked in CRS per inhabitant, nor with the positioning of the country in SCimagoJCR. However, these countries occupy the first 60 positions in this global ranking. Moreover, the positioning of these universities in the SIR and Innovation Rank published by Scimago does show a moderate correlation with the investment in research and development in the country, occupying the first two quartiles of positions. With respect to antiquity, 78% of these institutions are more than 100 years old, and 8% of them have been in operation for more than six centuries. Regarding the type of institution, 86% are public and 9% private.