Bibliometric analysis of scientific production on augmentantive and alternative communication - a research on virtual health library

Abstract

Purpose: To identify the papers whose aim was to study the Alternative Communication issue, of the Virtual Health Library (VHL) database from 1981 to 2008. Methodology: documentary research, qualitative and quantitative exploratory descriptive level, that involves the following steps: 1) selection of the descriptor with terminology defined in the Health Science Descriptors (DeCS); 2) survey of literature production about the topic in the VHL Alternative Communication; 3) list the indicators and their correlation: year, author and co-author, country, source of publication; home institutions; objectives and methodological approaches. Results: Although early research in the area are from the ‘50s, only in the '80s that they began to be, in fact, disclosed to academy. The year 1995 is noteworthy for having six of the 24 studies analyzed, developed this year. In the analysis of the authorship of articles, 62.5%were written by multiple authors, and only 37.5% by a single author. The most prominent country was the United States, where sixteen of the twenty-four articles analyzed were written. Regarding the sources of the publication, Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis had 25% of jobs indexed; and concerning the methodological approaches, 50% of the analyzed studies chose the experimental experimental method; 29.16%, documentary approach; and 20.83% were based on approach literature. Conclusion: The interdisciplinary studies in the area of Alternative Communication are noteworthy; appropriate investment resources to the needs of users of Alternative Communication should always be part of the list of researches.