Growth of scientific activity in Brazilian federal universities: analysis by thematic areas

Abstract:

Brazil has experienced rather remarkable scientific growth and development of the public higher education system, mainly supported by the Graduate Programs, play a central role. Several public policies to promote growth, quality and internationalization of universities had have a certain impact in the scientific system. It is proposed to describe and analyze such political way to affect the growth in different thematic areas. It is considered as indicators of inputs the number of students and professors doctors bound by Graduate Programs, extracted from the GeoCapes system, and as output, scientific publications in Brazil indexed in the international database Web of Science. It was examined the period 2004-2012, with study focus focusing on the case of Brazilian federal universities. Through bibliometric and statistical indicators it was observed that the new criteria for evaluating teachers and universities have modified the profile of the traditional activity of scientific disciplines, which results particularly evident in areas such as Social Sciences and Humanities.

Key words:
Brazilian university system; Higher Education; Bibliometric indicators