This article aims to identify how the term accountability has been treated in Brazilian literature, considering periodicals of the areas of administration, public administration, political science and social sciences. 53 articles were identified and analyzed. The results indicated that the issue gained more prominence in studies from 2006, and the Revista de Administração Pública (RAP) has the highest number of publications. The articles analyzed, mostly, are empirical, and many just mentioning the term accountability, without defining it or analyze it. It was found that the articles that discuss the issue have a clear confusion about its meaning, being "responsible" and "account render" the terms most frequently cited as definitions. It is believed that this study becomes relevant because, besides demonstrating the meaning given to the term, also points out the limits of its use.
accountability; meta-analysis; responsibility
