Academic Productivity Dynamics in Colombian Social Science Programs
A PCA–Malmquist Index Approach (2020–2023)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7160/eriesj.2026.190107Keywords:
academic efficiency, Malmquist, social sciences, PCAAbstract
Assessing academic productivity in higher education is challenging because performance depends on multiple correlated competencies and evolves across heterogeneous regional contexts. This is especially relevant in Colombian Social Science programs, where territorial disparities may mask differences in academic efficiency. This study analyses academic productivity dynamics from 2020 to 2023 using a combined PCA–Malmquist Index approach based on 11,099 observations. First, PCA was used as an unsupervised learning technique to reduce dimensionality and identify latent performance profiles. Second, the Malmquist Index was used to estimate productivity change through technological change (TC), pure technical efficiency change (PECH), and scale efficiency change (SECH). The findings show that the strongest profile was associated with Critical Reading, English, and Written Communication, increasing from 20% to 27% in the final period. Technological change explained 76% of productivity improvements, with Magdalena showing the best performance, while Huila lagged due to lower TC and PECH levels. The results highlight that academic productivity in Colombian Social Science programs is shaped by both educational performance and unequal regional capacity for academic modernization.
References
Adler, N. and Golany, B. (2002) ‘Including principal component weights to improve discrimination in data envelopment analysis’, Journal of the Operational Research Society, Vol. 53, No. 9, pp. 985–991. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jors.2601400
Adler, N. and Yazhemsky, E. (2010) ‘Improving discrimination in data envelopment analysis: PCA-DEA or variable reduction’, European Journal of Operational Research., Vol. 202, No. 1, pp. 273–284. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2009.03.050
Afsharian, M. and Ahn, H. (2015) ‘The overall Malmquist index: a new approach for measuring productivity changes over time’, Annals of Operations Research, Vol. 226, No. 1, pp. 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-014-1668-5
Agaronnik, N., Xiong, G. X., Uzosike, A., Crawford, A. M., Lightsey, H. M., Simpson, A. K. and Schoenfeld, A. J. (2022) ‘The role of gender in academic productivity, impact, and leadership among academic spine surgeons’, The spine journal: official journal of the North American Spine Society, Vol. 22, No. 5, pp. 716–722. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.spinee.2021.12.003
Agasisti, T. and Berbegal‐Mirabent, J. (2020) ‘Cross-country analysis of higher education institutions’ efficiency: The role of strategic positioning’, Science and Public Policy, Vol. 48, No. 1, pp. 66–70. https://doi.org/10.1093/scipol/scaa058
Agasisti, T. and Johnes, G. (2015) ‘Efficiency, costs, rankings and heterogeneity: the case of US higher education’, Studies in Higher Education, Vol. 40, No. 1, pp. 60–82. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2013.818644
Alvarez-Sández, D., Velázquez-Victorica, K., Mungaray-Moctezuma, A. and López-Guerrero, A. (2023) ‘Administrative Processes Efficiency Measurement in Higher Education Institutions: A Scoping Review’, Education Sciences, Vol. 13, No. 9, p. 855. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13090855
Arbona, A., Giménez, V., López-Estrada, S. and Prior, D. (2022) ‘Efficiency and quality in Colombian education: An application of the metafrontier Malmquist-Luenberger productivity index’, Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Vol. 79, p. 101122, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seps.2021.101122
Baciu, E.-L., Lazăr, T.-A. and Totan, R. I. (2025) ‘Social goals under a neoliberal agenda: measures to promote equality in European higher education read through a Foucauldian lens’, Frontiers in Sociology, Vol. 10, p. 1492863. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2025.1492863
Barbosa-Camargo, M. I., García-Sánchez, A. and Ridao-Carlini, M. L. (2021) ‘Inequality and Dropout in Higher Education in Colombia. A Multilevel Analysis of Regional Differences, Institutions, and Field of Study’, Mathematics, Vol. 9, No. 24, p. 3280. https://doi.org/10.3390/math9243280
Bo-xin, F., Xiang-qun, S., Zi-jian, G. and Zhuo, F. (2007) ‘Study on Improved DEA-Based MPI and Its Application in Dynamic Performance Evaluation’, in: 2007 International Conference on Management Science and Engineering, pp. 446–451, https://dx.doi.org/10.1109/icmse.2007.4421888
Brintseva, O. (2024) ‘A DEA-based Malmquist Productivity Index for Analysing University Performance and Competitiveness’, Krakow Review of Economics and Management/Zeszyty Naukowe Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego w Krakowie, Vol. 4, No. 1006, pp. 5–22. https://doi.org/10.15678/krem.17685
Cai, Y. and Lönnqvist, A. (2022) ‘Overcoming the Barriers to Establishing Interdisciplinary Degree Programmes: The Perspective of Managing Organisational Innovation’, Higher Education Policy, Vol. 35, No. 4, pp. 946–968. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41307-021-00242-0
Cinca, C. S. and Molinero, C. M. (2004) ‘Selecting DEA specifications and ranking units via PCA’, Journal of the Operational Research Society, Vol. 55, No. 5, pp. 521–528. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jors.2601705
Delahoz-Dominguez, E. J., Fontalvo, T. and Zuluaga, R. (2020) ‘Evaluation of academic productivity of citizen competencies in the teaching of engineering by using the Malmquist index’, Formación Universitaria, Vol. 13, No. 5, pp. 27–34. http://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0718-50062020000500027
Dipierro, A. R. and Witte, K. D. (2024) ‘The underlying signals of efficiency in European universities: a combined efficiency and machine learning approach’, Studies in Higher Education, Vol. 50, No. 6, pp. 1306–1325. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2024.2370948
Dyson, R. G., Allen, R., Camanho, A. S., Podinovski, V. V., Sarrico, C. S. and Shale, E. A. (2001) ‘Pitfalls and protocols in DEA’, European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 132, No. 2, pp. 245–259. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0377-2217(00)00149-1
Ferro, G. and D’Elia, V. (2020) ‘Higher Education Efficiency Frontier Analysis: A Review of Variables to Consider’, Journal on Efficiency and Responsibility in Education and Science, Vol. 13, No. 3, pp. 140–153. https://doi.org/10.7160/eriesj.2020.130304
Fu, T.-T. and See, K. F. (2022) ‘An integrated analysis of quality and productivity growth in China’s and Taiwan’s higher education institutions’, Economic Analysis and Policy, Vol. 74, pp. 234–249. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eap.2021.12.013
Gallimore, A. (2025) ‘Missing Piece of the Pie: Public Expenditure on Education in Colombia’, Economics, Vol. 8. https://doi.org/10.54014/8ZVV-XQXZ
Gao, Q. and Wang, Q. (2023) ‘A Study on the Spatial–Temporal Evolution of Innovation Efficiency in Chinese Universities in the Context of the Digital Economy’, Sustainability, Vol. 15, No. 1, p. 39. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15010039
Gao, S., Sun, H. and Wang, R. (2022) ‘Audit Evaluation and Driving Force Analysis of Marine Economic Development Quality’, Sustainability, Vol. 14, No. 11, p. 6822. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14116822
Guo, R. and Ye, M. (2025) ‘Input-output efficiency, productivity dynamics, and determinants in western China’s higher education: A three-stage DEA, global Malmquist index, and Tobit model approach’, PLOS One, Vol. 20, No. 6, p. e0325901. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0325901
Hieu, N. T. and Niem, L. D. (2024) ‘Autonomy Acquisition and Performance within Higher Education in Vietnam—A Road to a Sustainable Future?’, Sustainability, Vol. 16 No. 3, p. 1336. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16031336
ICFES (2022) Resultados de la evaluación Saber PRO. Available at: https://www.icfes.gov.co/web/guest/acerca-del-examen-saber-pro [Accessed 26 October 2023]
Jain, I. and Gulati, R. (2025) ‘Efficiency in Higher Education: A Review of Research From 1977 to 2022’, Higher Education Quarterly, Vol. 79, No. 1, p. e70010. https://doi.org/10.1111/hequ.70010
Khezrimotlagh, D., Cook, W. D. and Zhu, J. (2021) ‘Number of performance measures versus number of decision making units in DEA’, Annals of Operations Research, Vol. 303, No. 1, pp. 529–562. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-019-03411-y
Liang, L., Li, Y. and Li, S. (2009) ‘Increasing the discriminatory power of DEA in the presence of the undesirable outputs and large dimensionality of data sets with PCA’, Expert Systems with Applications, Vol. 36, No. 3, pp. 5895–5899. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2008.07.022
Lim, J., Jang, Y., Chang, H., Park, J. and Lee, J. (2018) ‘Role of multi-response principal component analysis in reliability-based robust design optimization: an application to commercial vehicle design’, Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization, Vol. 58, No. 2, pp. 785–796. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00158-018-1908-4
Liu, J., Jungyin, K., Jaewoo, S. W., Heechul, L. and Shah, W. U. H. (2024) ‘Evaluating the efficiency, productivity change, and technology gaps of China’s provincial higher education systems: A comprehensive analytical framework’, PLOS One, Vol. 19, No. 1, p. e0294902. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0294902
Liu, Z., Xiong, H. and Sun, Y. (2023) ‘Will Online MOOCs Improve the Efficiency of Chinese Higher Education Institutions? An Empirical Study Based on DEA’, Sustainability, Vol. 15 No. 7, p. 5970. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15075970
Mehrolhassani, M., Goudarzi, R., Feyzabadi, Y., Pourhosseini, S. and Darvishi, A. (2019) ‘Efficiency and Productivity Measurement in Research Sector of Iranian Medical Sciences Universities Using Data Envelopment Analysis and Malmquist Index’, Iranian Journal of Epidemiology, Vol. 14, pp. 1–11. Available at: https://journals.tums.ac.ir/irje/article-1-6139-en.html&sw=Research
Metzger, N. and Shenai, V. (2021) ‘Economic growth and human development in OECD countries: a twenty-year study of data 2000-2019’, Journal of European Economy, Vol. 20, No. 4, pp. 585–631. https://doi.org/10.35774/jee2021.04.585
Naderi, A. (2022) ‘Efficiency measurement of higher education units using multilevel frontier analysis’, Journal of Productivity Analysis, Vol. 57, No. 1, pp. 79–92. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11123-021-00621-0
Oliveira-Melo, F. G., Barbosa, A. S. and Sant’Anna, Â. M. O. (2025) ‘Efficiency of Higher Education Systems Toward Sustainable Development Goal 4: Cross-Country Analysis Based on a Bootstrap DEA Model’, IEEE Access, Vol. 13, pp. 191097–191113. https://dx.doi.org/10.1109/access.2025.3629526
Parteka, A. and Wolszczak‐Derlacz, J. (2013) ‘Dynamics of productivity in higher education: cross-european evidence based on bootstrapped Malmquist indices’, Journal of Productivity Analysis, Vol. 40, No. 1, pp. 67–82. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11123-012-0320-0
Peykani, P., Soltani, R., Tanasescu, C., Shojaie, S. E. and Jandaghian, A. (2025) ‘The Robust Malmquist Productivity Index: A Framework for Measuring Productivity Changes over Time Under Uncertainty’, Mathematics, Vol. 13, No. 11, p. 1727. https://doi.org/10.3390/math13111727
Pourmahmoud, J. and Bagheri, N. (2023) ‘Uncertain Malmquist productivity index: An application to evaluate healthcare systems during COVID-19 pandemic’, Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Vol. 87, p. 101522. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seps.2023.101522
Rella, A., Guillamón, M.-D., Benito, B. and Vitolla, F. (2025) ‘Efficiency determinants for higher education institutions: an empirical study of Italian public universities’, International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Vol. 75, No. 1, pp. 108–131. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPPM-09-2024-0649
Sánchez-Sánchez, A.M., Mello-Román, J.D., Segura, M. and Hernández, A. (2024) ‘Identifying the Determinants of Academic Success: A Machine Learning Approach in Spanish Higher Education’, Systems, Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, Vol. 12, No. 10, p. 425. https://doi.org/10.3390/systems12100425
Segbenya, M., Senyametor, F., Aheto, S.-P. K., Agormedah, E. K., Nkrumah, K. and Kaedebi-Donkor, R. (2024) ‘Modelling the influence of antecedents of artificial intelligence on academic productivity in higher education: a mixed method approach’, Cogent Education, Vol. 11, No. 1, p. 2387943. https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2024.2387943
Sierra-González, J. H. and Ramos-Pérez, C. E. (2021) ‘Science, Technology, Innovation, and Inclusive Development: A Country Comparison Between Colombia and Mexico’, in Orozco, L.A., Ordóñez-Matamoros, G., Sierra-González, J.H., García-Estévez, J. and Bortagaray, I. (eds.), Science, Technology, and Higher Education: Governance Approaches on Social Inclusion and Sustainability in Latin America, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 287–343. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-80720-7_11
Thanassoulis, E., Kortelainen, M., Johnes, G. and Johnes, J. (2011) ‘Costs and efficiency of higher education institutions in England: a DEA analysis’, Journal of the Operational Research Society, Vol. 62, No. 7, pp. 1282–1297. https://doi.org/10.1057/jors.2010.68
Timmis, S. and Valladares-Celis, M. C. (2025) ‘Digital inequalities and the COVID legacy in higher education in the global South and North: intersecting inaccessibilities and institutional assumptions’, Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, pp. 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2025.2483691
Wang, C.-N., Tibo, H., Nguyen, V. and Duong, D. (2020) ‘Effects of the Performance-Based Research Fund and Other Factors on the Efficiency of New Zealand Universities: A Malmquist Productivity Approach’, Sustainability, Vol. 12, No. 15, p. 5939. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12155939
Xiao, S., Sheng, J. and Zhang, G. (2024) ‘Rising Tides of Knowledge: Exploring China’s Higher Education Landscape and Human Capital Growth’, Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 4392–4421. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-024-02102-9
Xue, W., Li, H., Ali, R., Rehman, R. and Fernández‐Sánchez, G. (2021) ‘Assessing the Static and Dynamic Efficiency of Scientific Research of HEIs China: Three Stage DEA–Malmquist Index Approach’, Sustainability, Vol. 13, No. 15, p. 8207. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13158207
Ye, Z., Khanal, R. and Cao, Z. (2025) ‘Studying on the efficiency of higher education resource allocation and its influencing factors in the western China using DEA-Malmquist and Tobit models’, PLOS One, Vol. 20, No. 10, p. e0334090. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0334090
Zuluaga-Ortiz, R., Camelo-Guarin, A. and Delahoz-Domínguez, E. (2023) ‘Efficiency analysis trees as a tool to analyze the quality of university education’, International Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering (IJECE), Vol. 13, No. 4, pp. 4412–4421. https://dx.doi.org/10.11591/ijece.v13i4.pp4412-4421
Additional Files
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Categories
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Enrique De La Hoz, Carlos Garcia-Yerena, Rohemi Zuluaga-Ortiz
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors declare with this manuscript intended for publication to ERIES Journal that:
- all co-authors agree with the publication of the manuscript even after amendments arising from peer review;
- all co-authors agree with the posting of the full text of this work on the web page of ERIES Journal and to the inclusion of references in databases accessible on the internet;
- no results of other researchers were used in the submitted manuscript without their consent, proper citation, or acknowledgement of their cooperation or material provided;
- the results (or any part of them) used in the manuscript have not been sent for publication to any other journal nor have they already been published (or if so, that the relevant works are cited in this manuscript);
- submission of the manuscript for publication was completed in accordance with the publishing regulations pertaining to place of work;
- experiments performed comply with current laws and written consent of the Scientific Ethics Committee / National Animal Care Authority (as is mentioned in the manuscript submitted);
- grant holders confirm that they have been informed of the submitted manuscript and they agree to its publication.
Authors retain copyright and grant ERIES Journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the published work with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in ERIES Journal. Moreover, authors are able to post the published work in an institutional repository with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in ERIES Journal. In addition, authors are permitted and encouraged to post the published work online (e.g. institutional repositories or on their website) as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
