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Analysis of institutional authors

Gamboa-Cante, CarlosCorresponding AuthorBenito, BelenAuthor

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November 26, 2024
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Seismicity in Central America (1520-2020) and Earthquake catalog compilation for seismic hazard assessments

Publicated to: Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering. 22 (15): 7201-7234 - 2024-12-01 22(15), DOI: 10.1007/s10518-024-02059-9

Authors:

Gamboa-Canté, C; Arroyo-Solórzano, M; Benito, B; Aguilar, J; Arroyo, IG; Camacho-Astigarrabia, E; Castro, D; Flores, O; Linkimer, L; Marroquin, MG; Mixco-Durán, L; Strauch, W; Talavera, E; Valle, G; Yani-Quiyuch, R
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Affiliations

GFZ German Res Ctr Geosci, Helmholtz Ctr Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany - Author
Inst Nacl Sismol Vulcanol Meteorol & Hidrol INSIVU, Guatemala City, Guatemala - Author
Inst Nicaraguense Estudios Terr INETER, Managua, Nicaragua - Author
Minist Medio Ambiente & Recursos Nat MARN, San Salvador, El Salvador - Author
Secretaria Estado Despachos Gest Riesgos & Conting, Tegucigalpa, Honduras - Author
Univ Costa Rica, Escuela Centroamer Geol ECG, San Jose, Costa Rica - Author
Univ Costa Rica, Red Sismol Nacl RSN, San Jose, Costa Rica - Author
Univ Panama, Dept Fis, Panama City, Panama - Author
Univ Politecn Madrid, Escuela Tecn Super Ingn Topog Geodesia & Cartog, Madrid 28031, Spain - Author
Univ Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany - Author
Univ San Carlos, Fac Ingn, Ctr Estudios Super Energia & Minas CESEM, Guatemala City, Guatemala - Author
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Abstract

Central America is a seismically active region located in a tectonic setting dominated by the subduction zone between the Cocos and Caribbean plates, transform boundaries between the North American and Caribbean plates, and local or crustal faulting with some of the most important fault systems aligned with the volcanic arc. Combining seismic data from various Central American seismic agency catalogs covering the period from 1520 to 2020, we present an updated regional earthquake catalog for the region. Fourteen databases containing seismic events from local and regional agencies were collected for different time periods, homogenized to moment magnitude (M-w), and subsequently unified using a prioritization criteria approach. We analyzed to the data to identify and remove duplicate earthquakes, prioritizing records with the lowest RMS value, depth consistent with their location based on the region's crustal thickness, and magnitudes in accordance with historical reports or bibliographic sources. Additionally, significant seismic events (M-w >= 6.0) were carefully reviewed based on their epicentral locations and magnitudes, according on reliable publications. The earthquake catalog compiled includes a total of 260 548 earthquakes, for which we conducted a descriptive, spatiotemporal statistical analysis, as well as estimations of the magnitude of completeness (Mc) and declustering. Among the most important results, we highlight recent completeness periods for magnitudes M-w < 5.0. Geographically, seismic zones with better Mc are directly related to either good seismic network coverage or high seismicity rates in the region. As regards declustering, the Reasenberg declustering method considers several main shocks with similar to 76% of the earthquakes compared to the initial catalog and the Uhrhammer method considers similar to 51% as main shocks.
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Keywords

Central americCentral americaCompletenessCosta-ricaDeformatioEarthquake catalogEl-salvadorFault zoneGeometryGpsNational seismological networkRupture processSeismic hazardSeismic networksSubduction zone

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2024 there are still no calculated indicators, but in 2023, it was in position 47/258, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Geosciences, Multidisciplinary.

Independientemente del impacto esperado determinado por el canal de difusión, es importante destacar el impacto real observado de la propia aportación.

Según las diferentes agencias de indexación, el número de citas acumuladas por esta publicación hasta la fecha 2026-04-27:

  • WoS: 2
  • Scopus: 3
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Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2026-04-27:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 12.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 12 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 3.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 3 (Altmetric).
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Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Costa Rica; El Salvador; Germany; Guatemala; Honduras; Nicaragua; Panama.

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (GAMBOA CANTÉ, CARLOS JOSÉ) .

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been GAMBOA CANTÉ, CARLOS JOSÉ.

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Awards linked to the item

This work was supported by the KUK-APH & Aacute;N Project (RTI2018-094827-B-C21/C22) funded by Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades del Gobierno de Espana and MCIN/AEI/10.1303 9/501100011033 and, if applicable, by "FEDER A way to do Europe".
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