Margaret: Streamlining Research Productivity Analysis in Colombia with an R Package for GrupLAC Integration

Margaret is an advanced R package designed to systematically extract and consolidate data pertaining to research outputs (such as publications, books, book chapters, and conference presentations) of scientific groups from the GrupLAC platform, an online application managed by Minciencias in Colombia for the registration and updating of researcher and research group information in the fields of science, technology, and innovation. The challenge of monitoring and evaluating scientific production across various web platforms presents a substantial barrier to universities in tracking their contributions effectively. To address this challenge, Margaret accepts a designated list of links corresponding to university-affiliated research groups within GrupLAC. Utilizing web-scraping techniques, the package retrieves and compiles this data into a comprehensive XLSX file. This file encompasses information across 51 distinct categories of research products, enabling research directors to meticulously assess, monitor, and enhance various strategies that aim to augment the production, quality, and impact of scientific outputs. The Shiny application is publicly accessible and can be accessed via the following link: https://ucatolicaluisamigo-investigaciones.shinyapps.io/margaret/