ITS Research Intelligence
Ecuador University Research Rankings
Compare Ecuador universities using recent research output, citation impact, growth and a transparent research-performance score.
Research landscape
The current ITS Research Intelligence dataset contains 63 index-ready universities in Ecuador. Across those institutions, the average five-year research output is approximately 2,761 works and the average five-year citation count is approximately 5,501. The average publication-growth signal is 72.8%. These figures describe the institutions that pass the public quality gate; they are not intended to represent every tertiary institution in the country.
Country rankings are useful for benchmarking because they reduce some of the structural differences that make global comparisons difficult. They still should not be treated as a complete assessment of institutional quality: teaching, student outcomes, funding levels, research field mix and institutional mission are outside this research-performance score. The value of the page is in seeing who is producing research, how that activity is changing, and where citation visibility is concentrated.
Top research universities in Ecuador
| Rank | University | Country | Score | 5-year works | 5-year citations | Growth |
|---|
| #1 | Universidad San Francisco de Quito | Ecuador | 73.0 | 7,498 | 29,129 | 43.5% |
| #2 | Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador | Ecuador | 69.5 | 7,896 | 15,622 | 10.0% |
| #3 | Universidad de Las Américas | Ecuador | 68.8 | 5,187 | 22,757 | 20.4% |
| #4 | Universidad Estatal de Milagro | Ecuador | 68.7 | 7,303 | 4,887 | 283.6% |
| #5 | Universidad Espíritu Santo | Ecuador | 68.2 | 3,969 | 23,779 | 57.9% |
| #6 | University of Guayaquil | Ecuador | 68.1 | 10,457 | 10,774 | 34.3% |
| #7 | National Polytechnic School | Ecuador | 67.9 | 3,887 | 13,005 | 32.1% |
| #8 | Escuela Superior Politecnica del Litoral | Ecuador | 66.5 | 3,999 | 19,743 | -23.1% |
| #9 | Central University of Ecuador | Ecuador | 66.4 | 7,539 | 9,594 | 3.9% |
| #10 | University of Cuenca | Ecuador | 66.0 | 5,194 | 15,075 | -28.4% |
| #11 | Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja | Ecuador | 65.8 | 4,586 | 10,087 | 15.6% |
| #12 | Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE | Ecuador | 65.0 | 3,841 | 11,289 | -1.1% |
| #13 | Politecnica Salesiana University | Ecuador | 65.0 | 3,718 | 7,609 | 49.2% |
| #14 | Universidad Estatal Península de Santa Elena | Ecuador | 64.9 | 3,214 | 2,673 | 264.0% |
| #15 | Universidad Estatal de Bolívar | Ecuador | 64.0 | 2,519 | 1,545 | 362.9% |
| #16 | Universidad Técnica de Manabí | Ecuador | 63.5 | 6,555 | 10,828 | -18.9% |
| #17 | Universidad UTE | Ecuador | 63.5 | 1,954 | 12,279 | 25.5% |
| #18 | Universidad Nacional de Chimborazo | Ecuador | 63.5 | 4,062 | 4,946 | 79.8% |
| #19 | Universidad Técnica Estatal de Quevedo | Ecuador | 63.3 | 3,892 | 4,417 | 86.1% |
| #20 | Universidad Tecnica de Machala | Ecuador | 63.0 | 4,008 | 3,026 | 94.1% |
| #21 | Escuela Superior Politécnica del Chimborazo | Ecuador | 62.7 | 4,786 | 7,510 | -6.4% |
| #22 | Universidad Técnica de Ambato | Ecuador | 62.4 | 7,375 | 7,703 | -38.4% |
| #23 | Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil | Ecuador | 62.1 | 2,351 | 5,715 | 26.0% |
| #24 | Universidad Católica de Cuenca | Ecuador | 62.0 | 7,442 | 9,002 | -41.2% |
| #25 | Universidad Nacional de Loja | Ecuador | 62.0 | 3,239 | 5,321 | 19.4% |
| #26 | Universidad Indoamérica | Ecuador | 62.0 | 3,349 | 6,054 | 27.2% |
| #27 | Universidad Estatal del Sur de Manabi | Ecuador | 61.9 | 3,299 | 2,098 | 153.1% |
| #28 | Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María | Ecuador | 61.7 | 1,138 | 1,706 | 220.8% |
| #29 | Universidad Estatal Amazónica | Ecuador | 61.3 | 1,427 | 3,523 | 106.0% |
| #30 | Universidad del Azuay | Ecuador | 60.6 | 2,130 | 13,165 | -37.4% |
| #31 | Universidad Laica Eloy Alfaro de Manabí | Ecuador | 60.2 | 3,388 | 3,116 | 48.6% |
| #32 | Universidad Internacional del Ecuador | Ecuador | 60.2 | 2,036 | 5,162 | 35.5% |
| #33 | Universidad Técnica del Norte | Ecuador | 59.5 | 1,741 | 3,939 | 50.8% |
| #34 | Universidad Ecotec | Ecuador | 59.2 | 1,533 | 5,929 | 71.7% |
| #35 | Universidad Yachay Tech | Ecuador | 59.2 | 1,159 | 5,560 | 3.5% |
| #36 | Universidad Técnica de Cotopaxi | Ecuador | 59.1 | 2,480 | 2,403 | 109.9% |
| #37 | Universidad Politécnica Estatal del Carchi | Ecuador | 58.4 | 947 | 835 | 306.8% |
| #38 | Instituto Superior Tecnológico Loja | Ecuador | 57.6 | 2,218 | 2,386 | 62.3% |
| #39 | Universidad Regional Amazónica IKIAM | Ecuador | 57.5 | 934 | 4,554 | 22.2% |
| #40 | Universidad Agraria del Ecuador | Ecuador | 56.6 | 1,030 | 1,209 | 133.5% |
| #41 | Universidad Regional Autónoma de Los Andes | Ecuador | 55.4 | 5,974 | 1,807 | -5.6% |
| #42 | Escuela Superior Politécnica Agropecuaria de Manabí Manuel Félix López | Ecuador | 54.4 | 1,023 | 910 | 117.6% |
| #43 | Universidad Técnica de Babahoyo | Ecuador | 54.3 | 2,476 | 821 | 62.9% |
| #44 | Universidad Técnica "Luis Vargas Torres" | Ecuador | 53.9 | 1,292 | 2,911 | -11.5% |
| #45 | Universidad San Gregorio de Portoviejo | Ecuador | 53.6 | 1,493 | 1,162 | 92.5% |
| #46 | Universidad Internacional SEK | Ecuador | 53.4 | 639 | 1,812 | 49.0% |
| #47 | Universidad Iberoamericana del Ecuador | Ecuador | 52.5 | 521 | 465 | 488.5% |
| #48 | Instituto Geofísico de la Escuela Politécnica Nacional | Ecuador | 49.0 | 189 | 1,169 | -29.7% |
| #49 | Universidad de los Hemisferios | Ecuador | 48.2 | 492 | 661 | 40.7% |
| #50 | Universidad Israel | Ecuador | 48.1 | 354 | 308 | 163.0% |
| #51 | Universidad Metropolitana | Ecuador | 47.9 | 741 | 558 | 30.2% |
| #52 | Universidad Del Pacífico Ecuador | Ecuador | 47.3 | 169 | 685 | 80.4% |
| #53 | Instituto de Altos Estudios Nacionales | Ecuador | 46.4 | 499 | 522 | -18.4% |
| #54 | Instituto Superior Tecnológico de Artes del Ecuador | Ecuador | 45.2 | 282 | 157 | 246.2% |
| #55 | Universidad Tecnológica Empresarial de Guayaquil | Ecuador | 44.5 | 445 | 565 | 48.3% |
| #56 | Universidad Intercultural de las Nacionalidades y Pueblos Indígenas Amawtay Wasi | Ecuador | 43.7 | 204 | 178 | 358.1% |
| #57 | Universidad Casa Grande | Ecuador | 43.7 | 237 | 290 | 68.5% |
| #58 | Escuela Politécnica Javeriana del Ecuador | Ecuador | 43.5 | 142 | 315 | 45.2% |
| #59 | Universidad de Otavalo | Ecuador | 43.5 | 282 | 345 | 15.7% |
| #60 | Universidad Laica Vicente Rocafuerte de Guayaquil | Ecuador | 42.9 | 410 | 293 | 15.1% |
| #61 | Instituto Superior Tecnológico Tsa´chila | Ecuador | 42.6 | 176 | 228 | 150.0% |
| #62 | Universidad de las Artes | Ecuador | 39.9 | 481 | 129 | -8.6% |
| #63 | Instituto Superior Tecnológico Japón | Ecuador | 34.5 | 131 | 293 | -78.8% |
Transparent methodology
How ITS Research Score v2 is constructed
Every index-ready institution has a base score from recent output, citations, h-index, i10-index and publication growth. After deep enrichment completes, ITS Research Score v2 uses six dimensions: 25% output strength, 30% Research Impact Score, 20% Momentum Score, 10% international-collaboration share, 5% open-access share and 10% topic-diversity signal. Output and citation-scale terms are log-normalized to reduce domination by the largest universities.
Research Impact Score combines citation intensity, h-index, two-year mean citedness when available and i10 visibility. It is intentionally not called field-normalized impact. International collaboration is based on recent works with authors from more than one country. Research diversity is an entropy-based summary of the institution’s leading topic signals, not a department count.
These indicators assess research activity only. They do not measure teaching quality, student experience, employability, reputation, finances or accreditation. Missing data are left missing rather than fabricated.