When the National University was founded it had three institutes: the Institute of Pathology, staffed by five professors and nine assistants; the Institute of Bacteriology, with three professors and six assistants; and the Institute of Medicine, consisting of seven professors and seventeen assistants. The University also had two museums: the Natural History Museum and the Museum of Archeology, History and Ethnology.

Today, The UNAM Research Subsystem consists of twenty-eight institutes, seventeen centers, three programs and one unit, which are spread across the country from the UNAM Central Campus through Baja California, Querétaro, Morelos, Michoacán and as far away as Yucatan. These agencies employ 2,360 researchers and 1,653 academic assistants who carry out a yearly average 6,000 research projects, leading to around 3,500 articles published in specialized journals per year. Moreover, these researchers account for 600 books and 1,500 chapters in collected works every year. Fully 35% of all articles published by Mexican researchers are authored by UNAM scholars.

Research is organized under two broad coordinating offices: Scientific Research and Research in Humanities.

Scientific Research Coordinating Office		Research in Humanities Coordinating Office
Since its founding in colonial times, the University has been Mexico’s leading institution of higher learning. In recent decades, as public higher education at the state level has expanded, UNAM graduates have stepped to the forefront to lead these new academic undertakings. Read more		The Research in Humanities Coordinating Office of the UNAM collaborates in efforts entailing research, teaching and dissemination of culture. Its field of operation is the humanities and social sciences. Read more