THE SCIENTIFIC OUTPUT ON FLUVIAL GEOMORPHOLOGY IN THE REVISTA BRASILEIRA DE GEOMORFOLOGIA: BIBLIOGRAPHICAL PANORAMA, TRENDS AND GAPS

In surveys on Brazilian scientific output in the 21st century, fluvial geomorphology is often denoted as the branch of geomorphology with the largest number of publications. Therefore, it is important to detail the fluvial geomorphology publishing in the last two decades in the country, which contributes to the analysis of its evolution as a branch of science. Thereby, the present paper analyzes the publications on fluvial geomorphology in the Revista Brasileira de Geomorfologia (Brazilian Journal of Geomorphology; BJG), the only national journal specializing in geomorphology. A survey was conducted in the 49 editions of the BJG between 2000 and 2018. Characterization of the papers was performed according with subthemes, authors, institutions of origin, as well as more frequents keywords, spatial clippings, and technical-methodological approaches. Altogether, 167 publications were analyzed involving the study of river systems and their elements. The result shows a consistent growth in the number of publications on fluvial geomorphology. A great variety of authors, co-authors, and reference centers have been highlighted, especially federal institutions of higher education in the southeast and south regions of Brazil. The Parana, hydrographical region contains the largest number of publications, followed by the hydrographic regions of the Southeast Atlantic and Salo Francisco. The main subtopics refer to the morphology of fluvial systems and/ or their transformation, to the hydrosedimentological dynamics and/or its modeling, and to the morphometry of fluvial systems. Among the hundreds of keywords used, the most recurrent ones were "Fluvial Geomorphology," "Neotectonics," "Optically Stimulated Luminescence," "Parana River," and "Remote Sensing." In agreement with the last two notes, the most used technical-methodological approaches refer to the analysis of topographic data and satellite images, applications of geoprocessing, and analysis of hydro-sedimentological aspects. It was verified a dominance of studies with large spatial scales, mainly involving watersheds and morphological units. Another common spatial cut is the river stretch. On the other hand, there was some lack of more localized studies focusing on drainage headwater systems and springs.