Impact of incorrect affiliations on the recognition of Mexican scientific institutions.

Abstract

Background: Scientific productivity is a key parameter for measuring the effectiveness of healthcare institutions. Incorrect institutional names in affiliations can have legal implications and affect their visibility.

Objective: To analyze the prevalence and impact of incorrect (apocryphal) institutional affiliations in Mexican scientific publications.

Material and methods: A bibliometric analysis was conducted using PubMed and Scopus on publications from 20 Mexican institutions and universities. The affiliation loss ratio was calculated as the proportion of publications with apocryphal affiliations compared to those using the official name, and impact on institutional h-index was assessed to quantify visibility losses.

Results: The average affiliation loss ratio was 13.92% (range: 2.1% to 66.5%), with highest rates for the Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública (66.5%), Instituto de Oftalmología Conde de Valenciana (62.6%), and Instituto Nacional de Medicina Genómica (32.9%). The analysis of h-index showed that correcting apocryphal affiliations could increase this metric by up to 6 points for some institutions, potentially improving international ranking positions.

Conclusion: Incorrect institutional affiliations are common in Mexican scientific publications and significantly affect health institutions' visibility and international recognition. Prompt correction of this problem would improve Mexico's position in international rankings.