Strengthen of a Scientific Field in Latin America: Evolutionary Computation

Abstract

We carried out a bibliometric analysis of the research production in the field of evolutionary computation in Latin America (LA) for the period 1980-2020. The bibliometric method is applied with a quantitative review of the published literature. The search for publications was carried out in the Web of Science database through the terms that are most commonly used to identify this field of study. The data analysis the data analysis used Microsoft Office tools (excel and Access) to organize our data were used to organize our data: authors, institutions, journals, countries and thematic categories. It was completed with VOS Viewer 1.8.16 to generate a co-authorship network map of authors, and the development of base maps for collaboration by countries. We have identified the first Latin American publications in the journals Archivos de Biologia y Medicina Experimentales and Desarrollo Economico-Revista de Ciencias Sociales; this research field reached a consolidation in the 2000s with the opening of the first graduate programs in this geographical region; there is an extraordinary number of LA scholars active in this research field and an increasing number of academic institutions mainly from Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile and Colombia; while the Asian and European production in this research field is about 30%, the respective LA contribution is just 4.9%. The present study attempts to document the progress of evolutionary computation in Latin America, an issue that has gained relevance for society, especially in recent years. No studies have been generated that cover the Latin American region, and therefore it is hoped that these findings will be useful for the development of scientific and public policies and also for other future work.