Public traceability of university co-creation and collaborative governance for sustainability. A documentary audit of Ecuadorian higher education

Introduction This study examines the public visibility and documentary traceability of university co-creation and collaborative governance for sustainability, based on documentary evidence available on the institutional portals of a set of universities in Ecuador. It explores how publicly available records represent forms of territorial articulation that extend beyond traditional university extension models. Methods The research adopts a documentary case study design supported by a multi-criteria matrix of co-creation indicators, mapping the 59 institutions included in the defined universe. Data were gathered exclusively from verifiable public sources on official university websites, institutional repositories, sustainability reports, strategic plans, and digital documentation spanning the 2024–2025 period, with a standardized corpus closure date of July 24, 2026. Results Evaluated institutions exhibit heterogeneous institutional records regarding their engagement and sustainability initiatives. Five documentary cases were selected for analysis based on information availability, alongside candidate cases retained for sensitivity analysis using “Not Assessable” (NA) coding. The publicly documented cases provide evidence of varying degrees of participation, multi-actor coordination, knowledge-system dialogue, governance arrangements, documented results, project continuity, and articulation beyond traditional third-mission activities. Discussion The findings are restricted to the scope of public documentary visibility and traceability. They should be interpreted as patterns of documentary traceability rather than as direct evidence of the full implementation or effectiveness of co-creation practices in the institutions studied.