Introduction

The university thesis is research with defined parameters, it is executed as an indication of the completion of undergraduate or postgraduate studies, to obtain a university degree or degree¹, being the first step to get involved in scientific research, which should not only be supported, but also published in indexed scientific journals, in order to increase the scientific production of the university community. thus, the thesis in Veterinary Medicine has great potential in publication, since the thesis published in scientific journals could be evaluated by experts for its validation and improvement in its dissemination, however, a university thesis when evaluated by university professors has certain deficiencies, which in many cases are not perceived, either due to haste or little interest in its evaluation, and who in many cases are not researchers, much less experts in the subject². For this reason, in order to make scientific production visible, bibliometrics is the tool that makes it indispensable and necessary, since it measures through persistent indicators the visibility, downloads, number of visits and citations, essential in its institutional evaluation.

Bibliometrics is applied as a means to quantitatively evaluate scientific documents such as the thesis, and investigates their dynamics and trends, being easier nowadays, since science has been digitized³, allowing the diversification of research to be evaluated⁴, helping to determine weaknesses and strengths in research, propose strategies, and improve the increase in publications⁵. Bibliometric indicators help to discern formative research activity, identify weaknesses and strengths that are the basis for proposing strategies that increase both the quantity and quality of publications⁶, and are also a mechanism for assessing the scientific evolution of an academic institution, its researchers and journals^4,7, thus bibliometric analysis, it helps us to evaluate the quality of research in the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Zootechnics (FMVZ), which would provide the authorities with concrete data to strengthen priority areas and lines of research and, ultimately, make informed decisions that benefit the development of research and improve the quality of education⁸.

Research, as well as bibliometrics in Peru, was limited^9,10; however, the implementation of University Law 30220 marked the turning point by establishing research as a purpose of the university, increasing research, since it is considered one of the purposes of the university; this law recognizes the publication of scientific articles as fundamental, for professional training and knowledge innovation^11,12, in addition to being considered the function of university teachers in response to the needs of society¹³. Thanks to the personal efforts of researchers, complemented by the framework of this law, the publication of research in the country's universities has achieved a sustained increase⁸.

Bibliometric analysis in veterinary schools in Peru is a subject that has been little studied^6,14. For this reason, bibliometrics is crucial to quantify and make visible the contribution of theses published by the FMVZ¹⁴. For this reason, the objective of the study was to analyze the bibliometrics of undergraduate theses between 2017 and 2024 of the FMVZ.

Materials and methods

The study was descriptive, observational and retrospective¹⁴, through bibliometric analysis, considering the database of the Institutional Repository of the National University of the Altiplano of Puno, in the Undergraduate thesis section and in the subcommunity of biomedical sciences, the professional school of Veterinary Medicine and Zootechnics was considered between the period 2017 - 2024.

Information. Data collection was done as suggested³. First, the collection of supported digital theses was recovered from the website of the institutional repository of the National University of the Altiplano of Puno, in the FMVZ section. Second, the metadata of the theses was carried out manually in a new database considering year of support, gender of the thesis, species under study, area of knowledge, discipline, number of theses per supervisor. Third, the quantitative analysis of the data was done. Fourth, the data was visualized in figures and tables reflecting the trends and results in such a way that it looks friendly to the reader. Fifth, the interpretation of the results was carried out.

Data processing. The data was taken to a Microsoft® Office Excel sheet. The data were presented in tables and figures with absolute and relative frequencies. The statistical analysis was descriptive (averages, sum, frequencies) and bar graph. All analyses were performed in Jamovi 2.3.21.

Results

Figure 1, percentage frequency of undergraduate theses published during the period 2017 - 2024 according to the gender of the thesis students. A predominance of male thesis students is observed, who represent 65 % of the total, compared to 35 % corresponding to female thesis students.

Figure 1
Frequency of undergraduate theses supported at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Zootechnics during the period 2017 - 2024 in relation to the gender of the thesis student

The most studied species were the South American camelids, distributed in 125 studies on alpacas, 6 studies carried out in the same research on alpacas and llamas, 21 studies only on llamas and 1 study on vicuñas, which represents 40 % of the undergraduate theses, followed by studies on cattle with 91 documents and sheep with 42 papers. In a second order of frequency, 27 studies were recorded in small animals (guinea pigs and rabbits) and 21 in canines. The rest of the species represented a smaller proportion within the sample analyzed.

4 main areas were identified, which are Animal Health, Animal Production, Basic Sciences and Public Health, each of them with their respective disciplines as can be seen in Table 2 and Figure 2, it is noted that the area of Animal Health represents 25 % of the total and within it the most representative discipline was Virology with 24 theses. the area of Animal Production represents the highest percentage with 54 % and its largest discipline is Animal Reproduction with 67 studies; in the area of Basic Sciences there is a proportion of 16 % and within it the most outstanding discipline is Animal Physiology with 18 theses and finally in Public Health with 5 % there is the discipline of greatest relevance to Public Health itself with 13 theses and Zoonosis with 7 theses.

The directors (Table 3) who had a thesis published during the period 2017 - 2024 were 8; directors who conducted between 2 and 5 theses were 21; 13 directors were identified with 6 to 14 theses supervised; those professors who supervised between 15 and 25 theses were number 5 and finally those professors who conducted more than 25 theses were four.

Figure 3, percentage frequency of undergraduate theses published during the period 2017 - 2024, observing a reduction in works published for the years 2018 to 2021, the lowest production of studies for the year 2020; however, the last year analyzed (2024) had a significant increase compared to the previous year, which represents 19 % of the total production.

Discussion

Regarding the gender of the thesis students, there was a similar trend to the report⁵. The representation of women in research has been growing, especially due to inclusion policies, so we hope that this gap will be reduced⁵, as it is evident in the number of female entrants to the Faculty in recent years, being up to 50 % in both genders, despite the fact that there is currently a disparity, it is expected that in the future the proportion of theses according to gender will be similar or higher for the female gender¹⁵ as has been happening in other areas of the academic world¹⁶ as reported² with 52.2 % of female thesis students and likewise, in the Faculty of Medicine of the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos¹⁰.

Table 1 shows the distribution of the number of theses according to species, with a total of 382 theses, which indicates the importance of Veterinary Sciences in research⁸, considering it one of the main thematic areas of research at the National University of the Altiplano, therefore, we consider that the support and collaboration of policies on the part of the university should be generated in this area⁵.

Table 1, the FMVZ has research potential in South American camelids, because the Puno region is the area with the largest population of camelids in Peru, on the other hand, the University has experimental centers such as the Experimental Center (EC) La Raya, EC Chuquibambilla and EC Carolina, where Huacaya and Suri alpacas are concentrated. K'ara and Chaku llamas providing access facilities for research, in addition the tendencies of this species under study were due to the interest of the student and the economic activity from which they come, as well as the specialties of the teachers¹⁷. The second most important species to be studied are cattle with 91 studies, due to the fact that the Puno region has livestock basins dedicated exclusively to cattle production, facilitating their study similar to what has been reported^17,18.

Figure 2
Frequency of undergraduate theses supported at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Zootechnics during the period 2017 - 2024 in relation to the area of study

Figure 3
Frequency of undergraduate theses supported at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Zootechnics during the period 2017 - 2024

Our bibliometrics differ from other universities that do not have South American camelids, such as the case of the report¹⁴ of the Universidad Mayor de San Marcos, prioritizing canines and cattle, and also in the case of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, where domestic and wild animals were prioritized⁶.

In the case of areas and disciplines of study, our data are consistent with the report⁵, which mentions that the area of animal health and the sub-area of animal production is relevant in veterinary sciences, and likewise¹⁷ with respect to the greater number of theses in the area of animal production due to the breadth of the field of study and the interest of thesis students in livestock production systems. In our case, the largest number of theses published was in the discipline of animal reproduction, which is due to a greater number of research professors who predominate in this discipline. The above should not detract from the other areas of research, on the contrary, their development should be encouraged. Other veterinary schools also prioritize animal production⁶, but this differs from other schools dedicated to animal health¹⁴ or public health¹⁹.

The number of theses supervised by a supervisor is similar in proportion to what was reported¹⁷, with 4 professors directing more than 25 theses, it could be due to the fact that the professors are more empathetic with the students, as well as the level of research of the students that generate confidence in the direction of the theses¹⁴ since it is a commitment of the university professor, dedicating one's entire life to the increase of knowledge with the fundamental requirement of updating and mastering knowledge within their field¹³ since teachers with deficient scientific preparation could harm the research stages and generate inconsistencies between scientific research and the development of the thesis or generate irrelevant research¹ hence it is necessary, that within the curricular plan of the career, research professors are designated to research courses⁸ since they are evaluated for their scientific production and registered in the National Scientific, Technological and Technological Innovation Registry (RENACYT)²⁰.

Figure 3, the drop in the first years of evaluation in publications was due to the restrictive measures generated by COVID-19 in university education, bringing with it problems of adaptation to a virtual scheme, on the other hand, publications increased since 2022, which is related to the state's response to guarantee the continuity of educational services and the lifting of the restrictive measures of COVID-19 towards blended and blended education. face-to-face²¹. Finally, the increase in support in 2024 shows the need for the legal exercise of the profession⁶ since Law No. 31151 in its articles 290, 363, 364 establishes penalties for the exercise of the profession without a professional degree. In addition, another factor that contributed to the increase in theses published in 2024 could be the facilities and opportunities for research in veterinary sciences². From all of the above, it can be deduced from the analysis of bibliometrics, I report a greater tendency of male thesis students, dedicating the greatest research effort to South American camelids, which is evidenced by the strategic role of the FMVZ in scientific production; this high specialization in South American camelids responds to the productive needs of the highland region that strengthens the value chain of this species. In addition, their EC are a source of biological material available for the development of animal production and within it the discipline of animal reproduction by the largest number of specialist teachers in this area who have been able to dedicate a large part of their effort to the direction of the largest number of theses.

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Notes

Author notes

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