Análise bibliométrica da produção científica sobre palma forrageira na base de dados Web of Science

Abstract

Bibliometrics is an area of study in librarianship and science and technology dedicated to collecting, analyzing and evaluating the quantitative aspects related to the production and dissemination of information published in the media. Indicators from bibliometric studies can be useful for the planning and execution of public policies, in addition to being a means of finding out which are the most recurrent studies in a given area of knowledge and as a source of new themes for future projects. The objective of this work is to study the scientific production on forage cactus in the Web of Science (WoS) database. The forage cactus was chosen as the theme because of its importance for arid and semi-arid regions, emphasizing its relevance in the Brazilian Northeast. The data were obtained using the terms "Opuntia" and "forage" as search criteria, where data from 285 articles in the period 1945 to 2020 were analyzed. Aspects such as the amount of annual publication, authors who produce the most on the topic, were considered. more relevant funding agencies, more productive educational and research institutions, more recurrent publishing sources, countries that are more productive, most used languages and keywords. Through bibliometric analysis on scientific production in the Web of Science database, it was possible to identify productivity trends on forage cactus. The publication range found was from 1991 to 2020, with significant growth from 2006 and peaking in 2020. Most research institutions, funding and journals were Brazilian, US or Mexican, which indicates that they are the countries that most do and invest in research with forage cactus. Most of the most productive authors are linked to a Brazilian teaching and research institution, corroborating the production of research institutions and countries as a whole. The most recurrent themes are directly linked to previously determined search terms and the themes of the most current articles are related to the environment. Through these results, the researcher will be able to have a basis to make decisions regarding the best options according to their criteria, whether they are related to publication sources, research institutions, language to be used, among others.