Overview of the joint production between Brazil and Spain in web of science (2006-2012): indicators of activity, specialization and collaboration

Different studies have shown the benefits of international collaboration, justifying conducting further analyzes to detect the characteristics of the bilateral cooperation between the countries. In this work we analyze 6117 papers produced from 2006 to 2012 in collaboration between Brazil and Spain and which were recovered from the Web of Science database. The following bibliometric indicators were calculated: a) activity (number of documents, typology and language); b) specialization (WoS categories and scientific areas); c) bilateral and multilateral collaboration. Data shows that when Spain and Brazil sign papers with third countries, they publish more frequently in the areas of Physics (21%) and Non-internal medicine (20%). However, production in bilateral collaboration highlights the field of Chemistry. The main partners for Brazil and Spain are the US, France, the UK, Germany and Italy. It has been shown that the percentage of joint papers published between 2006 and 2012 grew faster than the production of individual countries, which demonstrates the importance of collaboration for both countries.