SĂŁo Paulo carries the scientific weight of a financially stricken country, but how much more can it endure?Â
SĂŁo Paulo is the top science city in South America in the Nature Index. Its cumulative fractional count for the six years since 2012 was 473.35, a metric that accounts for the contribution of SĂŁo Paulo-based authors to the 82 high-quality research journals tracked by the index. Its strengths are in the physical sciences.
The cityâs enormous metropolitan area, with 21 million inhabitants, hosts some of the largest and most productive universities in Brazil, including USP and SĂŁo Paulo State University (UNESP). Overall, there are more than 30 institutions in the city with a strong research focus, and just as many more universities and colleges that primarily engage in education and technical training.
Some 20% of Brazilian scientists are based in the state of SĂŁo Paulo. A third of the scientific articles in the index published by Brazilian researchers have at least one author from SĂŁo Paulo.
But scientists warn that the situation in SĂŁo Paulo is not sustainable. FAPESP cannot hold together the entire stateâs research ecosystem on its own forever, especially as funding for science collapses at the federal level.
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