Análise bibliométrica da produção científica sobre sistemas silvipastoris na base de dados Web of Science

Abstract

Bibliometric analyzes arise in response to the large amount of information generated by scientific production activities in a specific area of knowledge and the need to store, categorize, quantify and qualify such a large volume of information. Silvopastoral systems are integrated systems that seek to benefit from the relationship between animals, pasture and the use of tree species within the agricultural production system. With numerous benefits, this system alleviates one of the main problems of pastures, the degradation caused by several factors. Over the years, there has been an increase in the interest of the academic and scientific community regarding silvopastoral systems, generating more and more research and articles on the subject and promoting the technological development of the practice. Therefore, the objective of this work was to analyze the scientific production on silvopastoral systems in the last 30 years through bibliometric indicators in the Web of Science database. It was observed that Brazil (2nd place), together with the USA (1st place), stands out in the publication on the subject. Most of the work was carried out by the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA) and financed by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES). The authors who produced the most scientific articles on the subject are affiliated with the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) in Spain, namely Rodrigues, A. R. (27 articles) and Losada, M. R. M. (26 articles). Regarding journals, more than 28% of the articles were published in Agroforestry Systems. The main keywords used in the articles were agroforestry, silvopasture and shading. The most present species and genera within the evaluated works were Brachiaria brizantha, Leucaena, Eucalyptus and Pinus radiata, and the animals were cattle and sheep. Bibliometric studies play an important socioeconomic role in determining the trends and directions of the desired area of knowledge within the scope of scientific research, benefiting decision-making by governments and research/financing agencies. When applied to the topic of Silvipastoral Systems, these studies allow determining a timeline, observing the growing interest of researchers in the topic, especially between 2017 and 2020.