Introduction and state of the art

The mission of the contemporary university is to promote, stimulate, and disseminate knowledge aimed at seeking continuous improvement in the integral formation of human beings and their role within society. They are also platforms for the continuous development of innovation, science, and technology. New professionals should not only focus on good academic training, but also on promoting a commitment to good research practices (Batista-Mainegra et al., 2017). To this end, academic centers, research groups, and other entities involved in scientific processes tend to organize themselves according to the criteria established by international quality systems (Strauka, 2020). Institutions with state-of-the-art higher education profiles tend to boast about their good work, effectiveness, efficiency, greater connection with the public, private, and social spheres, and their capacity to produce multidisciplinary and applied knowledge (Basso et al., 2021), in contrast to the supposedly unproductive and self-referential inertia of traditional university research, based on codified knowledge and socially irrelevant and economically sterile disciplinary jurisdictions.

International university rankings have been an alternative used by governments and international cooperation agencies to provide funding for projects and scholarships (Kalhor & Mehrparvar, 2020). These quality processes are examined through an evaluation system and indicators such as teaching qualification aspects, research, transfer, and internationalization. However, the increase in scientific production and its impact are determining factors in world rankings such as Webometrics Ranking of World Universities, The World University Ranking, World’s best universities Ranking, Ranking Shanghai, Performance Ranking of Science Papers for World Universities, and the Leiden Ranking. In summary, worldwide research is measured by indicators of productivity, impact, and the academic visibility of its researchers (Powell, 2020).

The research materialized in documents produced and their social impact permeates the relationship between educational quality and development through scenarios for knowledge management and intellectual efforts of their professors, crystallized in the knowledge and ability to produce scientific knowledge. Universities that allocate resources to the generation of knowledge increase their scope and impact on society, as their responsibility is not only to give quality education to their students but also to promote the development and professional improvement of their professors in terms of research, aiming to provide them a sustainable research culture for the benefit of society (González-Díaz et al., 2021). However, this new era has brought with it new challenges and ways of doing science through virtual technologies; this requires a diagnosis (institutional and individual) of the new professor’s training needs and to be able to maintain the institutional educational-quality criteria. Thus, universities try to connect pedagogical practice with current knowledge derived from empirical evidence of each area of study, fostering spaces for a sustainable research culture where the scientific growth of each member of the university community is stimulated (Castro-Sánchez, 2021).

It should be noted that the features of a research culture refer to a set of cognitive, evaluative, and attitudinal elements shared by a particular educational community and, at the same time, to the practice, promotion, and irradiation of these elements directed to those who are linked to it. At the core of the research culture, these shared elements refer to a set of meanings, values, and behaviors that permeate the entire network of activities (concerning training, service, and innovation) developed as part of social interactions in specific contexts. Therefore, it can be associated with the set of interactions present in the research activity, focused on the concept of responsibility in the academic context with its own characteristics (Criado-Dávila et al., 2020). The effects of research culture extend to its different manifestations, from the relationship between research and teaching, research training, the integrity of the actors, among others with interest in publishing, authorship, prevention, and plagiarism control (Espinoza-Freire, 2020).

Currently, the educational policies of institutional accreditation show that the processes to achieve quality in university education are associated with the research practice, where the institutional purpose is to promote a research culture, thus increasing the scientific productivity of professors and students who meet the criteria to develop attitudes and facilitate the exchange of knowledge through productive research projects according to the institutional lines of research (Guerrero-Sosa et al., 2021). In other words, professors and students are the ones who must pertinently conduct, consult, and apply the research in the development of the curricula (Bracho, 2012). In Latin America, this situation has become more acute. On the one hand, the number of scientific papers published in databases such as SCOPUS has been increasing over the last three years by an average of 7.7% (2017-2020) (Vázquez-Miraz & Posada-Llorente, 2020). However, the number of cited papers remains at a decreasing rate of 20.2%, i.e., the number of scientific papers published in Latin America has been growing, but their social impact has been decreasing. This situation has awakened the commitment of those who work in the higher education system. Universities are a space to foster and promote innovation processes and generate new knowledge through scientific, technological, and social research. The interest of universities in the Latin American region has been to improve the research skills of professors who have shown certain weaknesses in this area, affecting the practical research culture (Castro-Sánchez, 2021).

This accentuates the gap that stands in the way of the development of scientific production both in the research programs of universities as well as in publicly oriented organizations in these countries. Based on this perspective, the question posed by this research is: How is the research culture of professors in the digital era concerning science in Latin America? Therefore, the present study analyzes the Latin American research culture and the scientific production between 1996 and 2019 of professors in the digital era. For this purpose, 2,215 professors dedicated to research from 20 Latin American countries were surveyed.

The results show that there is a strong relationship between educational level and publications in indexed journals, showing that the higher the academic degree of the professor, the greater the interest in publishing in indexed journals. Likewise, the countries with the highest scientific production show a high level of total citations. However, countries with very low scientific production show a higher impact in terms of citations in the scientific community. Despite the complex systemic and structural crisis in the Latin American region, university professors have taken advantage of the benefits of the internet for self-training and improving research skills.

Materials and methods

This study was carried out using a field research, non-experimental, cross-sectional design since the study variables were not manipulated and the data were collected once and then analyzed to obtain the results. In this regard, Hernández et al. (2020) state that in this type of design, the data collected at a single moment enable the description of the studied variables to analyze their impact on the units of analysis or participants, which, in this case, are the university professors surveyed for the research.

Regarding the unit of analysis, it was chosen through simple random sampling in five scientific events held by the International Center for Research and Development — ICRD (related to the construction of scientific articles virtually), for a total of 2,215 professors-researchers surveyed, stratified as follows (Table 1).

The data analysis process was developed in three phases.

Phase 1: The following research hypothesis system was determined:

• H0 (Null Hypothesis): There is no significant relationship between the research culture of professors in the digital era and scientific production and impact in Latin America.

• H1 (Alternative Hypothesis): There is a significant relationship between the research culture of professors in the digital era and scientific production and impact in Latin America.

The hypothesis testing for the relationship between the variable (categorical)=Research Culture of professors in the digital era and the variable (numerical)=Scientific production and impact in Latin America through citations, whose numerical data, according to the Kolmogorov-Smirnov normality test, are abnormal for a sample. Therefore, the chi-square goodness-of-fit test was used, which is based on the fit between the frequency of occurrence of the measurements in an observed sample and the expected frequencies obtained from the hypothetical distribution. The asymptotic significance level considered is 0.05. The contingency coefficient was considered to determine the strength of the relationship.

Phase 2: To determine the “Research Culture of professors in the digital era” variable, the data collection instrument was a questionnaire composed of 26 items, where beliefs and values about research, critical judgment of research, and research competencies were included. It was validated by five experts and pilot- tested to calculate its reliability; to this end, the Cronbach's Alpha coefficient was used to determine the reliability of the instrument, which was 0.93 (Very high).

The questionnaire presented two sections: 1) Characterization of the Latin American digital professor (single-choice answers). The items are related to teaching experience, work location, academic level of teaching, area of study, age range, gender, level of education, and publication in indexed journals; and 2) Research culture of the Latin American professor (3-point Likert scale).

Phase 3: To determine the "scientific production and impact" variable, the Latin American scientific production from 1996 to 2019 was considered based on the data collected from SJR. For this purpose, the following categories were explored: 1) Total documents, 2) Total citations, and 3) Self-citations. Likewise, the total population by Latin American country in the year 2019 was considered based on the global population clock (http://ww1.worldodometers.info/), which is calculated according to the World Population Prospects prepared by the Population Division of the United Nations (UN). To facilitate the interpretation of the results regarding population and scientific production, these are divided into 5 categories according to WorldOdometers. Population (Number of inhabitants in 2019 (WorldOdometers)): 1) less than 5,000,000 (Very low), 2) between 5,000,001 and 15,000,000 (Low), 3) between 15,000,001 and 35,0000,000 (Medium), 4) between 35,000,001 and 100,000,000 (High), and 5) more than 100,000,001 (Very high). Scientific production (papers published in SJR (1996-2019)): 1) less than 20,000 (Very low), 2) between 20,001 and 100,000 (Low), 3) between 100,001 and 250,000 (Medium), 4) between 250,001 and 500,000 (High), and 5) more than 500,001 (Very high).

This made it possible to calculate the real impact of scientific publications through the indicator: citations per document.To this end, self-citations are subtracted from total citations in order to determine the real impact of the publications in other regions. This allowed generating discussions on the research culture of Latin American professors in the digital era and the impact on the generation of scientific knowledge.

Analysis and results

Latin American research culture

With the information collected and processed, it is possible to characterize the digital-era teaching population in Latin America. 78% of the professors have less than 15 years of teaching experience (50% have less than 5 years). 91.9% of their academic practice is in undergraduate studies. As for the area of study, 31% are in the social sciences, 27.4% in business and technology, 25.4% in human sciences and education, and 14.2% in health sciences. The age group of digital-era professors is as follows: 38.9% are under 35 years old; 29.8% are between 35 and 44 years old; and 21.7% are over 45 years old. Regarding the professors’ academic level, 69.8% have a bachelor's degree, 17.1% have a master's degree, and 6.3% have a doctorate (Carabantes-Alarcón, 2020).

Concerning Latin American research culture, 62.5% of the professors responded that they have never published in indexed journals, while 70.5% state that they have good practice in citing documents. 64.9% do not know how to use the research paradigm in relation to the object of study. 90.9% consider that they always use a research design in accordance with the objectives of the study. 77.4% do not know how to adequately use qualitative methods, 68.7% do not know how to adequately use quantitative methods, and 82.7% do not know the different ways of integrating mixed methods. 58.1% of professors-researchers state that they only receive research training occasionally.

Figure 1 shows a relationship (Contingency Coefficient: 0.473 - Strong) between educational level and publication in indexed journals, showing that the higher the academic degree of the professor, the greater the interest in publishing in indexed journals. To Carranza-Esteban et al. (2020) and Guerrero-Casado (2017), the exercise of scientific research for professors in the digital era is fundamental for the development of science. The results of this research show that there is a significant group of professors with master's degrees who only publish scientific papers occasionally. Likewise, it is shown that the age group with the highest number of scientific publications is the 45 to 54-year-old group.However, between the ages of 35 and 44, Latin American research professors focus on teaching and extension activities.

Table 2 shows the Latin American population in 2019 and its relation to scientific production. Latin America is a continent with political, social, and economic weaknesses, so most of the countries in this region suffer from the same problems which prevent it from being a region with a high level of scientific production (Guerrero-Casado, 2017, Guerrero-Sosa et al., 2021). For the results of the present research, the Latin American population (20 countries studied) comprises a total of 633,470,842 inhabitants, a production of scientific documents indexed in Journal Citation Reports (JCR) in 2019 of 2,095,803 documents between 1996 and 2019, with a total volume of citations of 27,252,063, of which 23.86% are self-citations, leaving a real impact of 76.14% in other regions.

Figure 2 shows the grouped 3D dispersion of citations in relation to total citations and self-citations. It is shown that countries with medium and very high populations tend to have very low citations, high self-citations, and a high H-index. Although Latin America is a very large area covering 46 countries, it has a relatively low weight in the world's scientific production, as well as a low impact (citations per document) when compared to developed regions (Hermes-Lima et al 2007, Chinchilla-Rodríguez et al., 2015; Bonilla et al., 2015). Specifically, the results show that countries with very low populations had an impact of 23.87% of citations on average per published document, while countries with low populations obtained 15.16% of citations on average per published document. Countries with medium populations obtained 12.59% of citations on average per published document, countries with high populations have 10.77% of citations on average per published document, and countries with very high populations have 9.15% of citations on average per published document (Figure 3).

Figure 4 shows the different Latin American countries studied and categorized according to their scientific production (SJR documents): Countries with very high scientific production (Brazil), high scientific production (Mexico), medium scientific production (Argentina, Chile, Colombia), low scientific production (Cuba, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, Uruguay), and very low scientific production (Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Panama, Bolivia, Guatemala, Paraguay, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador).

Countries with the highest scientific production have a high level of total citations. However, countries with very low scientific production have a greater impact with citations in the scientific community (Chinchilla-Rodríguez et al., 2015; Bonilla et al., 2015, Guerrero-Sosa et al. 2021).

To determine the relationship between research culture and the level of scientific production, a Pearson's Chi-square test (221, 997th), Likelihood Ratio (241,001), and Linear-by-Linear Association (0.242) were applied. The results reflect an asymptotic significance (bilateral) of .000 with a moderate-low strength. This result rejects the null hypothesis and accepts the alternative hypothesis. In other words, there is a relationship between the research culture of professors in the digital era and scientific production and impact in Latin America (Castro-Sánchez, 2021). Figure 3 shows that when a country has an adequate research culture that promotes cooperation, collaboration, and cohesion, it is likely to produce scientific papers in indexed journals.

Discussion

The results show a clear relationship between the research culture of professors in the digital era and Latin American scientific production. These findings are consistent with those presented by Limaymanta et al. (2020) and Vázquez-Stanescu et al. (2020), who describe a new era of knowledge management stimulated by times of confinement and instability in the educational system, which constitutes a challenge for higher education institutions to guarantee stimulating scenarios for home-based research. One of the main findings of this research is that the Latin American region is characterized by a population of young professors with little experience, who generally work at the undergraduate level with a greater inclination towards the social sciences, with master's degrees, and only a few of them have published in indexed journals. Given the above, Figure 1 shows that professors focus on teaching and extension work.

However, those who publish have good practices regarding the writing and citation of scientific writing, despite not recognizing onto-epistemic aspects in the research processes, which confirms their lack of knowledge with regard to quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methodologies. Table 2 shows that 23.86% of the total citations are self-citations, with a real impact on other regions of 76.14%. The research culture reflected in this study reveals the weaknesses of Latin American society caused by the deficiencies in the research systems of each country. These results agree with those reported by King-Domínguez et al. (2020) and Vázquez-Stanescu et al. (2020), who consider that, despite the evident increase in indicators such as the number of citable documents, there has been a substantial decrease in the impact of scientific publications.

To González-Díaz et al. (2020), these scenarios are becoming increasingly complex due to the increasing administrative and academic workload that professors must face. This has led to situations of academic stress and a decrease in the quality of scientific production. Undoubtedly, Latin American countries with smaller populations and scarce budgets for research and development do not reach the expected levels of scientific production, with some exceptions in South America such as Chile, which, despite being a country with a medium-sized population, when compared to countries with high population densities, achieves high levels of scientific production. However, the main challenge for Latin American professors is to achieve high-quality levels in their scientific writings in order to impact the scientific community at the global level. According to the data collected in this research, countries such as Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina are the main producers of scientific knowledge in Latin America, establishing a balance in the self-citations of their scientific papers. Citations show the real impact of the science generated by a country in other regions of the planet. On the other hand, the research perspectives for the progress of Latin America in the 21st century lie in the planning of emerging ideas within public and private organizations, as well as organizations of a social nature, adopting innovative strategies in accordance with the challenging demands of the environment. For this reason, traditional organizations are incorporating mechanisms that provide answers to the world's research needs in order to become intelligent, proactive, dynamic, creative, and decentralized organizations, where competencies are the cornerstone for the achievement of strategic goals in all Latin American nations.

To Torres-Samuel et al. (2021) and Kumar et al. (2020), who present a critical discussion on Latin American research and development, the knowledge management of Latin American higher education institutions is characterized by its low level in global impact indicators for the development of science. Likewise, Hermes-Lima et al. (2007) state that one of the central aspects of the deterioration of research in Latin America is the low investment towards activities associated with science, technology, and innovation, with an "investment of less than 8 billion dollars per year, which represents 2.3% of the global spending on the sector and the brain drain" (Vega-Muñoz et al., 2021: 23).

According to Torres-Samuel et al. (2020), Latin American countries invest less than 1% of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in research and development, except for Brazil, which invests more than half of the total investment in research and development in Latin America, followed by Mexico and Argentina.

As for the investment in technology, innovation, and science in Latin American countries—except for Brazil and Mexico—it represents less than 0.5% of the GDP on average, while, in developed countries, it is between 2% and 3% of the GDP in most cases. This situation is exacerbated by the dependence on the state for funding research and development projects (Fu et al. 2020). On the contrary, in developed countries, investments in this sector are almost entirely made by private companies (Wouters et al., 2020). These institutions generate good prospects as they act by creating shared actions with their citizens, directing their efforts towards the search for efficiency with the commitment to contribute to the management of cooperation networks without excluding those that operate under social principles.

Despite this scenario, Latin American professors have improved the amount of scientific production indexed in databases with an impact factor thanks to cooperation networks, strategic allies, foreign researchers, sponsorships, and funding from independent research centers that share their technological communication platforms and contribute to the international cooperation of research projects (Valdés-Pérez, 2020). Guedes-Farias and De-Andrade-Maia (2020) and Limaymanta et al. (2020) note the importance of research for the development of modern science, where every effort by Latin American professors to publish high-impact scientific publications involves a sacrifice that ranges from socioeconomic and political conditions to lowering family expenses to pay for publication fees.

Hernández et al. (2020) emphasize that the articulation of public and private institutions with research and development groups is the main problem. In most Latin American universities, the research projects that are developed, in the best of cases, remain in the repositories of institutional libraries as bibliographic material with no impact on the scientific knowledge society.

Conclusions

Based on the objective of this research, which was to analyze the research culture of professors in the digital era concerning science in Latin America, it is considered that the work carried out has provided an interesting information infrastructure that will help to develop a more sustainable research culture for professors in Latin America. This situation generates good prospects that would facilitate policy initiatives to create research culture and investment in technology and innovation scenarios in these regions, which would demonstrate the great interest in research development through guidelines and regulations that bet on a rigorous, integrated, and, most importantly, supported exercise in which professors and students in the digital era take advantage of the benefits of research for their social, environmental, personal, and professional development.

This shows that Latin American professors in the digital era who participated in this research have faced economic, political, and social circumstances to adequately exercise their profession, to the point of obtaining a doctoral degree but not doing research, thus affecting good research practices and exposing a training gap in research competencies, interest in research, and management of skills for the new digital era. The findings of this study show a problem to be solved in this field of teaching. The problems that arise require a collaborator who is well acquainted with the scientific field in which he/she operates and who has a number of competencies and skills that, together with an innovative method, enable him/her to produce knowledge through the scientific research process.

Finally, and based on the results obtained from the analysis of the information, it can be said that the research culture of Latin American professors in the digital era shows a vertiginous interest in adapting to changes, generating communicative and investigative competencies necessary for research. In addition to meeting the aforementioned characteristics, professors in the digital era must know their field and must like it in order to find their work fun and fascinating. According to the main findings of this research, it is estimated that universities articulated with the State and society should work in a coordinated manner to improve the research capabilities of their academic bodies and thereby the deconstruction and reconstruction of academic programs.

^† Dedication

This work is dedicated to the memory of a young and promising researcher, Dr. Romel Gonzalez-Diaz. He leaves us the task of promoting research culture throughout the world.

Author Contribution

Idea, A.A.D.; R.G.D.; Literature review (state of the art), R.G.D.; A.A.D.; Methodology, R.G.D.; A.A.D.; Data analysis, A.A.D.; Results, A.A.D.; R.G.D.; Discussion and conclusions, A.A.D.; R.G.D.; Writing (original draft), A.A.D.; R.G.D.; Final revisions, A.A.D.; R.G.D.; Project design and sponsorship, A.A.D.; R.G.D. (1)