Air Pollution: Bibliometric Analysis and Space-Temporal Distribution of Specialized Scientific Production

Abstract

Environmental pollution, especially air pollution, is a serious problem that plagues the world population, due to the presence of solid and / or gaseous elements, which alter the characteristics of atmospheric air, causing diseases in humans. In this context, the objective of this work was to analyze the spatio-temporal distribution (1970 to 2020) of global scientific production regarding air pollution through a bibliometric analysis of data hosted on the Scopus and CAPES periodic platforms. To this end, a selection of the main publications about air pollution was carried out, in CAPES journals and Scopus, obtaining a profile of world production in the last 50 years (1970 to 2020), using bibliometric analysis. According to the data obtained, it was noticed that, of the 44 published articles, 31 were developed in Brazil, while 13 articles were developed in the rest of the world. It is also noted that, over the years, the number of published works increases, following the same trend of greater knowledge production in Brazil. Most of the published works were developed by authors affiliated with institutions in the Southeast, Northeast and South regions. In northeastern Brazil, only authors affiliated with Rio Grande do Norte, Pernambuco, Bahia and Ceara appear. These works were mainly indexed in the areas of medicine, environmental sciences and social sciences. Therefore, when analyzing scientific production, it was concluded that air pollution has a major negative impact on the health of the population, especially in large centers where there is a higher emission of pollutants, thus triggering respiratory diseases.