This study analyses the state of research on scientific communication in Brazil carried out between 1996 and 2006. It analyses this research by taking into consideration trends regarding approach, authorship, and the methodological options of the studies. It characterizes scientific production through the number of articles published per journal, the authors (gender, institution), the year of publication and typology of the article, and the methodological aspects of the studies. It then carries out a content analysis of the scientific articles, uses documentary research techniques and defines as its analytic corpus the Brazilian journals in the field of Information Science (Ciência da Informação, Datagramazero, Encontros Bibli, Informação & Sociedade, Perspectivas em Ciência da Informação, Transinformação). It goes on to demonstrate the accumulation of knowledge on scientific communication, which has contributed to constituting a specialized field of study and research in the area of Information Science in Brazil, taking into consideration the number of articles (148) and the number of authors (238). It is found that 96 (64.86%) of these articles were identified as descriptions of scientific investigations according to the criteria defined in the study, leading to the conclusion that the most common areas of study are documentary research, descriptive studies; followed by the treatment of quantitative data; the use of bibliometric techniques and citation analysis; concerning the research thematic the most common areas were studies of channels, vehicles, cycles and models of communication (including evaluation of journals and information sources).
Content analysis; Information science; Scientific communication