Paleontologia brasileira: uma análise sob o ponto de vista da maturidade

Abstract

Since a long time researchers ask themselves about the process involved in the development of science and its dynamics of communication. In the field of Library and Information Science, research is normally aimed at the observation of the scientific community and its dynamics, and this is commonly done through quantitative approaches, using techniques from the Bibliometrics field. These techniques allow quantitative analysis of the information recorded, and include studies on impact factor, cocitation analyses, authorship and co-authorship, among many others. Numerous times this type of research is focused on specific areas of knowledge, but few bibliometric studies have been devoted exclusively to studying Paleontology. It is opportune, therefore, the development of researches that fill this gap, and bring to light data that would allow a greater understanding of Paleontology as a scientific field. Among the various possibilities of study, the present work investigates Paleontology from the point of view of its maturity, seeking to identify, through previously established criteria, the stage of maturity of this scientific field. The researches that seek to measure the maturity of a scientific field use different definitions for maturation and also different approaches of measurement of this concept, since the scientific fields do not mature in a predictable way, and each scientific field has a specific path in relation to other fields. We applied selected criteria from the study by Keathley-Herring et al. (2016), focusing on the authorship dimension - the most commonly used - and its three sub criteria: number of authors, authors diversity and collaboration between authors. Although the interest of this research is Paleontology as a whole, in order to treasure this field in a national level and conscious of the historical gap of studies dedicated to Latin American science, focus will be given to the situation of Brazilian Paleontology, having as background the field of Paleontology in Latin America. The results indicate that Brazilian Paleontology fully or partially meets the indicators of maturity from the point of view of the characteristics of authorship; thus, if Brazilian Paleontology is not yet at a full maturation stage, it has an advanced degree of maturity.