An overview of occupational therapy publication in non-specific professional journals in the period of 2004 to 2015¹

Abstract

Introduction

In occupational therapy, scientific journals have been the object of studies in order to understand the trajectories and characteristics of the production of knowledge of the profession. In Brazil, the evaluation of the bibliographical production disseminated in journals has been a prerequisite for the insertion and permanence of researchers in graduate programs.

Objective

To characterize the publications on occupational therapy in non-specific journals of the profession classified in strata A1 and A2 by the WebQualis list of the Coordination of Personal Improvement of Higher Education (CAPES) in Physical Education, Speech Language, Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy areas as to the origin of journals and articles published, as well as the themes, objectives, methods and people addressed.

Method

This is a descriptive study of articles and journals published in the period from 2004 to 2015. Data were analyzed by simple descriptive statistics.

Results

There was an increase in publications on occupational therapy in these vehicles from 30 articles published in 2004 to 82 in 2015, although it is concentrated in certain journals in European and American countries. A higher frequency of articles with authors related to the universities and countries of North America and Europe was observed, as well as articles with an intervention approach and quantitative methodological approach.

Conclusion

Although an increase in publication on occupational therapy has been observed, it has been observed that there is a numerical, thematic and methodological restriction of non-specific occupational therapy journals that publish articles related to the profession.

Keywords:
Science; Research; Publications for Science Diffusion; Occupational Therapy; Higher Education