In order to provide information on the development status of the Macrobrachium genus study in Latin America, the results of the scientometric analysis of 161 documents published between 1976 and 2016 in journals of the region, managed from the PERIODICA database, are presented. The current status of the genus Macrobrachium is described in the above geographical area. Results are presented on the years of generation of articles, species studied, main themes treated, journals, most representative authors, countries and language. The most productive countries are Brazil and Mexico. The contents were written in Portuguese as the preponderant language, followed by Spanish. The main topics covered are culture, ecology, food-nutrition, physiology and reproduction, and the least discussed were biology, pathology, food technology, genetics, molecular biology and behavior. The most studied species are M. rosenbergii, M. acanthurus, M. carcinus and M. amazonicum. The most representative authors are V.L. Lobao, W.C. Valenti, J.V. Lombardi and C. Graziani.