Scientific production in Ecuadorian higher education on learning assessment: Bibliometric study, 2011-2021

Abstract

This article presents a bibliometric study of the scientific production of learning assessments generated by Ecuadorian universities and their academic actors between 2011 and 2021, based on Google Scholar data. The decision was based on the numerous problems associated with evaluative practice, the lack of bibliometric data on the subject, and its implications and decisions in terms of educational improvement. The research sought to answer seven questions that guided the analysis. A non-experimental quantitative approach was assumed and a bibliographic, exploratory, descriptive and longitudinal study was applied. The bibliometric method and the descriptive-inferential statistics applied made it possible to measure and analyze several bibliometric indicators: authors, their Ecuadorian institutional affiliation, titles, years, citations, sources, types of publication (article or thesis) and keywords. The results show a scarce scientific production, highlighting some illustrative data: of 237 publications analyzed, only 24 articles and 51 theses correspond to Ecuadorian higher education in its different academic actors, representing 32% and 68%, respectively. The average number of citations of only 3.5 in journals, being much lower in theses, denotes a low impact, while these are concentrated in only eight universities. On the other hand, more than 90% of the citations were found in the Latindex database. These results will allow a deep analysis at the level of the university community in Ecuador, allowing to rethink actions in this regard.