As president of Peru’s National Council of Science, Technology and Technological Innovation (CONCYTEC), I disagree that the government is not showing sufficient interest in the country’s research (see Nature 576, S65–S67; 2019).

The government’s expenditure on research and development has increased over the past decade, and this year sees its highest budget ever, at 214 million soles (US$63 million; see go.nature.com/2ufux1k, in Spanish). And some public universities are investing their royalties from natural resources such as mining into research infrastructure and projects.

A 2018 report by Elsevier commissioned by CONCYTEC indicates that Peru’s field-weighted citation impact in 2013–17 was above the world’s average. And, according to SCImago rankings, Peru’s research is becoming less dependent on international collaborations, with more than 40% of its publications in 2018 exclusively authored by Peruvian scientists.

Last May, the government passed a law to attract and retain more highly qualified scientists. CONCYTEC, with the support of a World Bank project, incorporated 181 local and foreign researchers into Peruvian institutions in 2019.

Notwithstanding these efforts, we recognize that we still have a long way to go in improving Peru’s research.