Characterization and analysis of Latin American scientific production in MDPI journals: a study based on Web of Science.

The MDPI editorial journals have generate extensive debate due to its influence on the current scientific publication ecosystem. This article analyzes the scientific activity in Latin America published in MDPI journals to study its trends and determine if its production patterns relate to those of other geographic contexts. Articles and reviews from the period 2013–2023 were retrieved from the SCI, SSCI, A&HCI, and ESCI indices of Web of Science, amounting to 64,043 documents from Latin American countries. The results show an increase in productivity from the year 2017, with values close to 5% of production in MDPI and the journal Sustainability as the main communication channel in the region. A similar panorama to that of other countries is observed in most of the results where the use of MDPI journals as a scientific communication channel has increased, especially in the last five years.