Didou-Aupetit S. auteur aut IRD Gérard Etienne auteur aut IRD text journalArticle spa text/pdf reformatted digital access In this paper the authors expect to analyze the following hypothesis from different angles: the National Researchers System (Sistema Nacional de Investigadores, SNI) has created a standardization, progressive although incomplete, of the criteria governing the national scientific elite based on the criteria that prevail amongst the so-called developed countries. We study some of the indicators following which the SNI members who belong to the most aged groups present obvious differences with regard to the less aged ones and are a symptom of this homogenization dynamics, like, for instance, the age at which the doctorate degree is obtained. We also analyze the distortions that characterize this universe, like v.g. the fact that women are under-represented. A systematic analysis of the 2009 data about the SNI researchers, together with a sample of academic trajectories taken from the CVU (Joint Curriculum Vitae, Curriculum vitae único) helps us to show at what extent obtaining a degree in a foreign country helps to achieve a rapid career progression within the system, emphasizing the slants by disciplinary area and additional factors that allow to explain how they can get a high scientific prestige capital. specialized National Researchers System (Sistema Nacional de Investigadores, SNI) Scientific career Prestige Foreign Doctorate Degrees MEXIQUE 116 33 132 29-47 2011 0185-2698 https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010058250 0185-2698 [F B010058250] https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010058250 https://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/divers15-09/010058250.pdf IRD - Base Horizon / Pleins textes 2013-02-01 2017-08-23 fdi:010058250 fre