Brazil has experienced a steady rise in the volume and impact of its scientific research in the past two decades, underscoring its standing among the emergent BRIC nations with strong economic potential.

A study by Thomson Reuters, released on Monday, explores the publication and citation statistics on scientific work in Brazil.

It finds that the number of published research papers with at least one Brazil-based author increased sixfold between 1989 and 2007, rising from just more than 3,000 to more than 19,000. Similarly, Brazil’s percent share of world literature has grown from 0.56% in 1989 to 2.02% in 2007.

Areas of research experiencing particularly strong growth included Agricultural Sciences, up by 3.2 percentage points between the 1994-1998 period and the 2004-2008 period. Plant and animal sciences ranked second with an increase of 3 percentage points, and pharmacology and toxicology rose by 1.78 percentage points.

Science Watch, a Thomson Reuters Web site that tracks trends and performance in research, also assessed the overall impact of Brazil’s scientific research by charting its combined citations-per-paper in all fields compared to the world average.

The impact of Brazil’s research has trended upward from a score at 44% of the world average during the 1985-1989 time period to 63% of the world mark during 2004-2008, according to the study.

“Since 1985, Brazil has realized the highest overall impact average for any of the BRIC nations compared to the world average,” said Christopher King, editor of Science Watch. “Although still registering below the overall world average for scientific impact, Brazil has been steadily rising towards parity since the late 1980s.”

Engineering is the main specialty area in which Brazil scored highest in relative impact during the 2004-08 period: just 5% below the world mark. Mathematics also ranked near the top, with Brazil scoring at 90% of the world average in the latest five-year window.

In recent years, however, Brazil’s trajectory in terms of the impact of its research has been relatively flat, while both India and China are rising sharply, according to Science Watch.

Still, the long-term rise of Brazil’s research reinforces the country’s standing among the emergent BRIC nations that possess the resources and economic potential to capture a significant share of the world’s future economic growth, according to Science Watch.

The emerging BRIC markets have garnered much international attention in recent months, with widespread expectations that growth in these economies will lead the global economic recovery.

Last week, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty visited finance ministers, bankers and economists in Brazil and other South American countries, as part of the government’s efforts to build stronger ties with emerging markets.

“We want to grow our relationships in the Americas,” Flaherty said last week. “Recovery from the global recession will depend, in large part, on the success of emerging economies, in particular, the BRIC countries.”

IE