Comparative research performance of top universities from the northeastern Brazil on three pharmacological disciplines as seen in scopus database

Empenho dos bolsistas de pós-doutorado júnior na área de Ciências Biológicas no Brasil: uma análise bibliométrica

Resumo Muito se tem falado sobre a importância dos indicadores científicos no processo de crescimento e desenvolvimento dos países. Nesse cenário, o presente trabalho buscou analisar o empenho dos bolsistas de pós-doutorado júnior em algumas áreas de Ciências Biológicas (botânica, bioquímica, farmacologia e ecologia) no Brasil. Esta pesquisa classificou-se como descritiva quanto ao seu objetivo e fez uso da bibliometria para analisar os dados encontrados. O desempenho de 97 bolsistas de pós-doutorado júnior com bolsa vigente no site do Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, foi analisado através do banco de dados Scopus. Os resultados obtidos demonstram que São Paulo é o estado brasileiro que apresenta o maior número de bolsistas (cerca de 20,62%), sendo a Universidade de São Paulo a instituição com a maior predominância de pós-doutorandos (12,37%). A botânica apresenta papel de destaque como área de atuação no campo das Ciências Biológicas, com o maior número de artigos indexados na base Scopus, apresentando uma média de 10,63 artigos por pesquisador. A área de Ecologia apresenta a maior média anual de publicações, com uma média de 1,56 publicações por ano. Observa-se que o pós-doutorado júnior é uma experiência que pode proporcionar avanço do conhecimento e capacitação científica e tecnológica visando à aplicação dos resultados em diversos setores sociais.

Trends in diabetes research outputs in South Africa over 30 years from 2010 to 2019: A bibliometric analysis

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is one of the leading causes of mortality in South Africa, which is impelled by people's consumption of unhealthy diets and lifestyles, negligence about an individual's health status, and increased urbanization. DM can be linked to several human diseases and thus, making it an important public health issue in the South African health sector. Therefore, it is necessary to assess the level of research that has been conducted in the country on diabetes, in a quest for solutions against the deadly disease. Hence, the present study aimed to map diabetes-related research in South Africa from 2010 to 2019. Data on the subject was retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) and bibliometrix package in Rstudio statistical software was used to analyze the data while VOSviewer was explored for data visualization networks. Our analysis revealed that the annual growth rate of publication trends was 23.2%. The authors per document were 23.3 with a collaboration index of 23.4. From the 416 articles analyzed, Islam MS (n = 34) was the most prolific author and the top active institution was University of KwaZulu-Natal (n = 165) and the top journal was Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice (n = 20). Findings from this study reveal that the quantity of research on diabetes has significantly increased over the decade, and the outcomes of this scientific progress can guide future research and substantially provide the basic needs for improving management procedures for diabetes in the country.

Productivity of CNPq Researchers from Different Fields in Biomedical Sciences: The Need for Objective Bibliometric Parameters-A Report from Brazil

In Brazil, the CNPq (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development) provides grants, funds and fellowships to productive scientists to support their investigations. They are ranked and categorized into four hierarchical levels ranging from PQ 1A (the highest) to PQ 1D (the lowest). Few studies, however, report and analyse scientific productivity in different sub-fields of Biomedical Sciences (BS), e.g., Biochemistry, Pharmacology, Biophysics and Physiology. In fact, systematic comparisons of productivity among the PQ 1 categories within the above sub-fields are lacking in the literature. Here, the scientific productivity of 323 investigators receiving PQ 1 fellowships (A to D levels) in these sub-fields of BS was investigated. The Scopus database was used to compile the total number of articles, citations, h-index values and authorship positions (first-, co- or last-listed author) in the most cited papers by researchers granted CNPq fellowships. We found that researchers from Pharmacology had the best performance for all of the parameters analysed, followed by those in Biochemistry. There was great variability in scientific productivity within the PQ 1A level in all of the sub-fields of BS, but not within the other levels (1B, 1C and 1D). Analysis of the most cited papers of PQ 1(A-D) researchers in Pharmacology revealed that the citations of researchers in the 1C and 1D levels were associated with publications with their senior supervisors, whereas those in the 1B level were less connected with their supervisors in comparison to those in 1A. Taken together, these findings suggest that the scientific performance of PQ 1A researchers in BS is not homogenous. In our opinion, parameters such as the most cited papers without the involvement of Ph.D. and/or post-doctoral supervisors should be used to make decisions regarding any given researcher's fellowship award level.

Research trends in food chemistry: A bibliometric review of its 40 years anniversary (1976-2016)

This study presents a general bibliometric overview of the major scientific developments that have been published in Food Chemistry, since its first issue (1976). The bibliometric data were retrieved from the scopus database. The review identifies the most cited, productive authors, and the leading institutions and countries of the journal, based on bibliometric indicators. The research hot spots in the period from 1976 to 2016 were identified by using the visualization of similarities software (Vosviewer), and the graphical mapping of the authors was developed to visualize networks between authors. A total of 20,050 publications was analysed and the most influential subjects covered by the journal were identified. Topics related to the antioxidant components of foods and the analytical quantification of contaminants or components of food were identified as being most relevant.The bibliometric analyses indicate a significant evolution of the journal in terms of publications, scientometric performance and themes covered.