Spanish scientific research by field and subject. Strategic analysis with ARWU indicators

In this study, the scientific production of universities across the world is analysed, disaggregating it by research fields and specialities. A particular focus is on the strategic analysis of Spanish universities within the international panorama. Data collected from the widely known and frequently consulted Academic Ranking of World Universities are used to which clustering techniques are applied. To do so, indicators are defined that are related with university presence (in both absolute and relative terms), university performance within a specialist field with respect to the rest of the world, and within each speciality with respect to the general level of the country. With all that information, strategic clusters of specialities were identified, and an analysis by scientific field at an aggregated level was completed. Among the results, it is worth highlighting the greater international presence of Spanish universities within the specialist clusters of Food Science & Technology and Hospitality & Tourism Management, and their performance below the general average with respect to all universities, except for Remote Sensing, Veterinary Science, and Civil Engineering. The research fields within which the Spanish universities showed greater competitiveness are Life Sciences and Natural Science, whereas the fields of Engineering and Social Science had the lowest presence and level of international competitiveness. A series of recommendations for improvement are advanced concerning measurement of resources, communicative activities, and the orientation of lines of action within some specialities.