Indigenous ethnoknowledge about stingless bees (Apidae: Meliponini) in the Brazilian territory: Bibliometrics

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze the characteristics of scientific productions that address the knowledge of indigenous peoples about stingless bees in different ethnicities, in the Brazilian territory, through bibliometric analysis. Thus, we sought to answer the following question: what are the characteristics of scientific publications with the theme in question found in the databases in the research tools? As descriptors, the following keywords were used: “Brazilian Indigenous Knowledge and Stingless Bees”, in the databases of Google Scholar and Scopus, totaling 18 (eighteen) scientific productions, in Spanish, English and Portuguese, with no year limit, and the survey was conducted in October and November 2022. As a result, we obtained: 10 (ten) (56%) scientific articles, 2 (two) (11%) master’s dissertations, 2 (two) (11%) doctoral thesis and 4 (four) (22%) scientific papers published in annals of events, covering the period from 1982 to 2020, notifying the representativeness of the unconventional literature in this research. The study evidenced the contribution of Higher Education Institutions – federal public HEIs and the little performance of state HEIs with research on the subject, in addition to large gaps with regard to: the time and evolution of publications, the periodicity of journals and, especially, the geographical scenario with the presence of indigenous ethnicities in their relations with stingless bees in the Brazilian territory. The importance of greater openness of databases to the dissemination of knowledge of traditional peoples and communities is highlighted.