Reshaping Research in Crisis: Bibliometric Analysis of Ecuadorian Public Universities During COVID-19 (2019-2021)

Bill Serrano Orellana¹Jorge Guido Sotomayor-Pereira¹Oscar Geovanny Riofrio Orozco¹Luis Brito-Gaona¹Patricio Alvarez-Muñoz²Marco Faytong-Haro^3*

• ¹Universidad Tecnica de Machala, Machala, El Oro, Ecuador
• ²State University of Milagro, Milagro, Ecuador
• ³Espiritu Santo University, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador

Ecuadorian public universities have significantly expanded their scientific output in recent years; however, few studies have conducted a multivariate bibliometric analysis to assess how these institutions adapted their research agendas during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study examines publication patterns from 2019 to 2021 using data from the Web of Science, focusing on four primary research areas: Education, Social Sciences, Engineering, and Multidisciplinary Sciences. Institutional performance was evaluated across seven variables: article count, citation impact, and open-access prevalence. By applying a dynamic HJ-Biplot approach in R (dynBiplotGUI), we visualized the relationships among the 24 public universities and tracked their temporal evolution. The results indicated that Education and Social Sciences were the most productive areas, with the Technical University of Machala leading in both publication volume and number of citations. Openaccess publishing exhibited substantial growth-reaching up to 300% in some institutions-and was positively linked to higher citation impact. The dynamic trajectories revealed a noticeable shift among mid-tier institutions toward engineering research and open dissemination models. These findings underscore the adaptability of Ecuadorian universities during global disruptions, emphasizing the importance of multivariate bibliometric approaches for strategic research planning, policymaking, and the promotion of open science in emerging contexts.