Geociências como área do conhecimento no Brasil

Abstract

Knowledge organization is used to support the process of pursuit and retrieval of geoscientific information and serve as a basis for research and education in Science and Technology (S&T) through the development of knowledge classification tables. The context of structuring S&T knowledge is reflected in this paper, insofar as it investigates the CNPq-CAPES table of knowledge areas regarding the Geosciences area. This research aims to analyze it in a definitional and structural parameter basis of organization and information representation intending to characterize the Geosciences as a knowledge area. With this main objective, the conceptual, historical and institutional aspects of the Geosciences were analyzed, besides the designations of stricto sensu postgraduation courses, its areas of concentration and research lines, and research groups. The qualitative (terminological) and quantitative (exploratory documentary) methodology of analysis was used, according as the recurring subjects were analyzed and computed in the designations cited previously. One element to be highlighted is that Geosciences appears as a synonym of Geology and Earth Science(s) in reference materials. Another result found was a tendency not to restrict the postgraduate courses of Geosciences in subareas of knowledge. The constitution of postgraduate programs due to the observation that stricto sensu postgraduate courses hold masters and doctorate degrees is one of the elements of institutionalization of Geosciences in Brazil. The average of 4.2 lines of research per graduate course and the number of postgraduate courses that do not provide information about the concentration areas is significant. Concerns with the environment are evident in both postgraduate courses and research group nominations. It is possible to notice the presence of interdisciplinarity both directly, in the nominations of research groups such as Núcleo Interdisciplinar de Pesquisa em Paisagens, and indirectly through the presence of references to other knowledge areas, as in Física da Atmosfera. In this context, knowledge organization proved to be valid for the investigation of the comprehensiveness of Geosciences as a knowledge area in Brazil.