Análise qualitativa e quantitativa de indicadores de produção e formação científica com Caenorhabditis elegans no Brasil

Abstract

The animal use in scientific research is always an open debate in today's society. Inflict pain, stress and even death itself during the experiments has been questioned under the argument that it is unethical to submit sentient animals to such conditions. Another relevant argument is based on the fact that alternative models are able to replace these animals use in research. Although the total substitution of all animal models without prejudice to the scientific development of today's society is still impossible, interest in alternative methods has been growing within the scientific community. Thus, the use of alternative models, such Caenorhabditis elegans, presents an intelligent solution to this dilemma and currently generates a new impetus for basic Brazilian science. However, due to the low occurrence of scientific works on the subject, the full scope and implementation of these model organisms in Brazil is still not well known. Working on solving this problem, this study aimed to: a) To investigate, through scientometric indicators indexed using SCOPUS platform, the characteristics of scientific production, the impact and collaboration of research in Caenorhabditis elegans in Brazilian Science; b) To verify the history of dissemination of the scientific production of the model organisms in the country; c) View the profile of Brazilian researchers on the subject as well as their impact on the training of new scientists through information available on CNPq's Lattes platform. The citation data was collected from the SCOPUS platform, the Impact Factor data from the Journal of Citation Reports. The results showed that Brazilian production on the subject is still low, but well established and with growth possibility. Although the average indicators of visibility and relevance of Brazilian research are still around half of those of international research, collaborative groups are in full activity showing strong internationalization. The researchers profile study, on the other hand, demonstrates activity from researchers of national excellence, indicating stability and confidence in the acceptance of the model by the Brazilian scientific community.