Academic production indicator: perception from the Biochemistry and Pharmacy career, UTMACH

Abstract

Research in universities has been a priority in career evaluation systems. In Ecuador, as of March 2024, this is developed on the basis of 5 criteria, 8 sub-criteria and 31 indicators, one of which includes the academic production indicator. The work carried out aims to evaluate the behavior of the research and innovation criterion of the Biochemistry and Pharmacy career of the Technical University of Machala, in the period 2016-2023, through the analysis of the academic production indicator of the teachers, for the improvement of the results of the self-evaluations and evaluations of the career, creating a precedent in the increase of the quality of teaching. The research developed was qualitative-quantitative and of a longitudinal type. The analysis considered the tenured and occasional professors who worked as teachers in the career during the period. The references were the generic models of evaluation of the learning environment of careers version 2.0 and the one modified in March 2024. The Microsoft Excel program (Windows 10 version) was used for all calculations, comparisons, statistical analysis, and graphs. It could be concluded that the analysis of scientific production in purely quantitative terms, compared with the corresponding utility functions, showed satisfactory utility function values in practically all years. However, the disaggregated analysis of factors such as the number of professors who publish, the affinity of research topics with the subjects they teach, and the participation of professors in research projects revealed shortcomings that need to be addressed.

Keywords:

Research, University teaching, Career evaluation.