The aim of this paper was to describe the profi le of Brazilian scientifi c publications on the topic of education in hospitals, an initiative justifi ed since the recognition of the importance of scientifi c output in legitimizing and consolidating this new area of knowledge. We analyzed 47 articles published in scientifi c journals between the years 1997 to 2008. Basically, the study assessed the state of knowledge (or state of the art) of an area of growing interest and importance within the fi eld of Special Education: the education of hospitalizedchildren and/or chronic patients, designated by the Brazilian Ministry of Education under the term Hospital Schooling. From the standpoint of the empirical corpus, this was a documentary study, methodologically based on a technique called Content Analysis. The articles of the sample were classifi ed and quantifi ed according to the predominant type of empirical investment, i.e.: essay, case study, reports of original research (survey with design of research) and literature review. We also sought to identify the indexation databases to which the journals in question pertained, such as: SciELO, Edubase, Bireme and INEP catalog. We also described the distribution of thearticles by area of expertise and institutions they came from. The main results showed that 22 of the 47 articles analyzed were classifi ed as having been derived from original research; only two journals were indexed in all the relevant databases, and most the publications were produced by researchers working in federal institutions of higher education.
Special Education; Schooling in hospital; Education of Children with Medical Needs; Content Analysis technique
