A bibliometric analysis of the Scielo database: a Brazilian portfolio of the solidarity economy

This paper uses a theoretical-conceptual applied research framework to describe analyze scientific production in Brazil addressing the topic of the solidarity economy between 2000 and 2014. In order to achieve the objectives of the study, a search was performed in the Scielo database search engine to gather data and select articles that use the phrase “Solidarity Economy”. A bibliometric analysis was then carried out with the purpose of identifying the publications’ performance over the fifteen-year period. The aspects considered were the authors, language, journals with the greatest number of articles published on the topic, the most frequently used keywords, and most cited papers. The results of the analysis showed that research addressing the topic are still scarce in Brazil, especially in the field of Production Engineering. This paper highlights the need for future studies about the solidarity economy and, moreover, that research in the area should be guided by a structured portfolio selection process using the most relevant works in the field.