An Overview of Operations Research/Management Science in Latin America

This paper presents an analysis of research articles published in the field of Operations Research and Management Science (OR/MS) by Latin American researchers. The objective is to examine the historical evolution of research in the field and to examine the current state of OR/MS studies in Latin America. The analysis is based on data available on the Web of Science databases. This study provides a general picture of studies in the field, by analyzing the findings through the most productive countries, the most influential authors, and the network of collaborations, among other indicators. The study reveals that OR/MS publications having at least one author from a country in Latin America have steadily increased over time. Expert Systems with Applications and the European Journal of Operational Research are their preferred journals for publication. This study also concludes that Brazilian researchers and institutions dominate the production of OR/MS knowledge with more than half of the documents published in the region, and four other counties (Mexico, Chile, Colombia, and Argentina) account for the remaining document to surpass the 90% threshold.