  In this paper we studied the research activity of Brazilian Institutions for
all sciences and also their performance in the area of physics between 1945 and
December 2008. All the data come from the Web of Science database for this
period. The analysis of the experimental data shows that, within a nonextensive
thermostatistical formalism, the Tsallis \emph{q}-exponential distribution
$N(c)$ can constitute a new characterization of the research impact for
Brazilian Institutions. The data examined in the present survey can be fitted
successfully by applying a universal curve namely, $N(c) \propto 1/[1+(q-1)
c/T]^{\frac{1}{q-1}}$ with $q\simeq 4/3$ for {\it all} the available citations
$c$, $T$ being an "effective temperature". The present analysis ultimately
suggests that via the "effective temperature" $T$, we can provide a new
performance metric for the impact level of the research activity in Brazil,
taking into account the number of the publications and their citations. This
new performance metric takes into account the "quantity" (number of
publications) and the "quality" (number of citations) for different Brazilian
Institutions. In addition we analyzed the research performance of Brazil to
show how the scientific research activity changes with time, for instance
between 1945 to 1985, then during the period 1986-1990, 1991-1995, and so on
until the present. Finally, this work intends to show a new methodology that
can be used to analyze and compare institutions within a given country.
