The cost of doing science in Latin America: experiences from Mexico
Source: Science Direct
Abstract
The low science budget combined with the increase in the number of researchers creates challenging conditions for Mexican scientists to fund their research. Although these difficulties are shared by scientists from many other countries, doing science in Latin America may come with additional costs. Here, we describe some of these costs and propose some integral solutions relying on policy changes and planification to optimize the use of research money and foster Mexican science visibility.
Introduction
Recent publications have documented the challenges faced by researchers from low- or middle-income countries, including the language barrier [1], infrastructure constraints [2], undervalued scientific contributions [3], or helicopter science practices [4,5]. These challenges translate into the underrepresentation of their scientific outputs [6]. Yet, one issue that has been less documented is the higher cost of doing science.
Research in Mexico is facing a severe financial crisis (Figure 1Ai). Research spending in Latin America dropped by 3.55 purchasing power parity (PPP)$ billions between 2014 and 2018, comparatively increasing by 58.22 in North Americaii. From 2010 to 2025, the number of researchers registered in Mexico’s National Researchers System (SNII) grew by 2.65 times (16.6 K → 44 Kiii), while the budget only increased by 2.1 times [15.8 K → 33 K million Mexican pesos (MXN),iv,v]. Adjusted for 90% inflation in the periodvi, researchers now have access to <40% of the resources they had 15 years ago. Moreover, budget increases are mostly allocated to scholarships and financial productivity incentives for SNII researchersvii,viii, further reducing the funds available for research (Figure 1B). Meanwhile, institutions demand higher productivity, and top-tier journals require increasingly ambitious studies.
Additionally, scientific capacity in Mexico is highly unequal. Resources are heavily concentrated in Mexico City (Figure 1B,C), and many key decision-making roles are held by researchers from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), often overlooking the challenges faced by federal research institutions across the country, where financial regulations are more strictly tied to government oversight and anti-corruption measures.
Cont'd.
LINK:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0966842X25001453