Social Networks in the scientific production on public health administration in Brazil

Abstract

The Brazilian administrative reform was included in the 1988 Constitution, and it has promoted decentralized policies, including the municipalization of health and popular participation. The objective of this article is to understand how the implementation of these democratic changes were studied in the international literature. The scientific production on Brazilian public health administration was analyzed by studying social networks. The search was conducted in the Web of Science database, using administration terms, delimited by “Brazil” and “health,” and using BibExcel and Ucinet software. The network of publications in administration was cohesive, containing practices of deliberative democracy and social participation. By including the term “health,” more variations were found, particularly on the Brazilian Health Reform and on the decentralization of the National Health System, with a more critical and reflexive focus, albeit with a clear gap on social accountability.

Keywords:
public administration; health; social network analysis