Abstract Contemporary scholarship on internationalization and de-Westernization of academic research has primarily examined external forces that reproduce inequities between Global North and Global South research outputs. This manuscript offers an alternative perspective by focusing on internal dynamics and context-specific governance arrangements that shape internationalization within a Global South context. We investigate how the international research production of Brazil-based Communication scholars relates to two domestic drivers: (1) public investment from national science and technology funding agencies, and (2) graduate program ratings assigned by the Ministry of Education. Drawing on indicators from SJR, SciVal, and official data, we conducted quantitative analyses of publication patterns from 2013 to 2022 to evaluate scholars’ success in publishing in high‑impact journals. The results reveal a paradox: even as public funding declines, publication in top‑tier journals has increased substantially. We also found a marked misalignment between Ministry of Education program ratings and actual research productivity, as several well‑funded, highly rated programs underperform relative to newer and less‑resourced institutions. Moving beyond explanations that attribute the limited presence of Global South scholars in high‑prestige venues essentially to external constraints (e.g., underrepresentation on editorial boards), this study demonstrates how uneven national commitments to international circulation shape research visibility and impact.
Marques et al. (Tue,) studied this question.