Scientific research productivity in urology: A 20-year bibliometric analysis in Latin America.

Introduction and objectives: The knowledge generated by scientific research is linked to the development of countries, as it provides the necessary resources to guarantee scientific progress and cost-effective healthcare. For this reason, our study analyzes the trends of scientific publication in urology in Latin America.

Methods: A bibliometric analysis was performed. Data collection was carried out using the SCOPUS search engine in April 2023, and the search terms were defined by the authors, including the most common diseases in the specialty of urology. A descriptive analysis of the different characteristics, trends and scientific collaborations was performed. The collaboration networks were plotted using VOSviewer.

Results: From 2000 to 2021, Latin American publications in urology amounted to 9135 in scientific journals. Brazil is the country with the greatest scientific production (51.2%) and Chile has the greatest scientific production per million inhabitants. Of the total number of scientific publications, 51.1% were related to prostate cancer, 88.8% were written in English (and 50.2% had non-open access). The country with greatest collaborative research with Latin America was the United States.

Conclusions: Scientific output in urology in Latin America has increased substantially over the last 20 years. The most published topic is prostate cancer, most papers are written in English, and the United States takes first place regarding scientific collaboration. However, the proportion of the world's science originated in Latin America is still low and depends on Brazil.