{"id":541603,"date":"2025-01-31T11:07:05","date_gmt":"2025-01-31T14:07:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/?p=541603"},"modified":"2025-01-31T11:07:05","modified_gmt":"2025-01-31T14:07:05","slug":"research-finding-its-way-into-society","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/research-finding-its-way-into-society\/","title":{"rendered":"Research finding its way into society"},"content":{"rendered":"

Research papers produced in Brazil \u2014 particularly in fields such as climate change, the Amazon, and biofuels \u2014 are among the most widely cited in public-policy proposals and reports in countries such as the U.S., the UK, and Germany. According to data compiled from Overton, an international database of policy documents and associated research, a total of 25,391 papers authored by S\u00e3o Paulo\u2013based researchers were cited in 33,398 policy documents from 1,017 different government agencies, intergovernmental organizations, and think tanks across 123 countries from 2013 to 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur interest is in examining the societal benefits from S\u00e3o Paulo\u2019s research output beyond academia, and this database offers insights into how this research has shaped public policy for the benefit of society,\u201d explained agricultural scientist Connie McManus, an international relations manager at FAPESP. She conducted the study in collaboration with Niels Olsen C\u00e2mara, an immunology researcher at the University of S\u00e3o Paulo (USP) and an advisor to FAPESP\u2019s Scientific Board. \u201cOur findings underscore the significant influence that S\u00e3o Paulo\u2019s researchers have over public policies in Brazil and globally,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Among the intergovernmental bodies that regularly cite research out of S\u00e3o Paulo are the World Health Organization (WHO), the European Commission, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the World Bank. Interestingly, among the top 25 sources referencing Brazilian studies, 23 are international, and only two are domestic \u2014 the Federal Government and the Institute of Applied Economic Research (IPEA), a government-policy think tank under the Ministry of Planning. \u201cIPEA\u2019s core mission is precisely to produce data to inform improvements to public policies. Our research draws heavily on these data,\u201d explained economist Fernanda De Negri, who heads the Center for Research on Science, Technology and Society at IPEA.<\/p>\n

Brazil trails the US, the European Union, the UK, Germany, Canada, and France in terms of the number of public\u2013policy references to research conducted in S\u00e3o Paulo. McManus suggested that Brazilian government agencies may not be basing their public policies on scientific research to the same extent that organizations in other countries are. She proposed that \u201cPerhaps our researchers should seek to publish their findings in a language that will support greater uptake by policymakers\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>

\n \n \n \n <\/picture>Alexandre Affonso \/ Revista Pesquisa FAPESP<\/span><\/div>
\n

The survey also explores the topics of Brazilian research that are most widely cited in foreign policy documents. In engineering and technology, subjects such as biofuels and greenhouse gas emissions are the most commonly cited. In the natural and social sciences, Amazon is a recurrent theme. In the medical sciences, studies on tropical diseases and the adverse effects of ultra-processed foods are among the most highly cited, whereas in agriculture, research on tilapia, citrus, eucalyptus, and the genetics of pests such as Xylella fastidiosa is the most prevalent. Finally, the study identified the most widely cited researchers from institutions in S\u00e3o Paulo in international policy documents. At the top of the list, with 137 cited documents, is Paulo Artaxo from the USP Institute of Physics, renowned for his work on aerosols and his contributions to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). \u201cBrazilian research holds significant influence in international reports, and there are research domains in which we are globally leading authorities,\u201d stated Artaxo, noting, for instance, Brazil\u2019s contributions to climate-change research. \u201cBrazil is second only to the US in terms of the number of researchers providing inputs into IPCC reports.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several names on the list feature prominently in prestigious academic rankings, such as Clarivate Analytics\u2019s annual Highly Cited Researchers list. Among these scholars are Carlos Augusto Monteiro from the School of Public Health at USP, a pioneer in research on ultra-processed foods, with 130 citations; Pedro Henrique Brancalion, an authority in tropical forest restoration at USP\u2019s Luiz de Queiroz School of Agriculture (ESALQ), with 82 citations; and psychiatrist Andr\u00e9 Brunoni from the School of Medicine at USP, who leads studies on depression, with 70 citations (see<\/em> Pesquisa FAPESP issue n\u00ba 310<\/em><\/a>).<\/p>\n

McManus and Olsen C\u00e2mara also compiled data on Brazil\u2019s overall performance in the Overton database, which mirrored their findings for S\u00e3o Paulo in terms of citing institutions and countries and the domains in which Brazil is most influential. \u201cThis comes as no surprise, given that S\u00e3o Paulo researchers have accounted for over 40% of Brazil\u2019s science output in recent years,\u201d noted McManus. Research produced through international collaborations had a 71% greater likelihood of being cited in reports.<\/p>\n

Sociologist Ana Cl\u00e1udia Niedhardt Capella, a public policy expert and researcher at S\u00e3o Paulo State University (UNESP) in Araraquara, noted that, in recent years, Brazil\u2019s science output has been increasingly targeted toward solving complex societal issues, ranging from inequality to challenges related to violence, health care access, and education. Not only has there been a surge in academic capacity, but governments are also increasingly looking to enhance their policies and return on investment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s heartening to learn that Brazilian public-policy research has garnered international acclaim, yet we still have ground to gain,\u201d remarked Capella. \u201cWe must deepen collaborations between researchers and policymakers to ensure that the research we produce is not only increasingly used to inform policymaking in Brazil but also more attuned to public issues on governments\u2019 agendas.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new survey reveals the extent to which research in S\u00e3o Paulo has shaped public policies around the world","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":517245,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[166],"tags":[],"coauthors":[98],"class_list":["post-541603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-policies-st-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=541603"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541603\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":541610,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541603\/revisions\/541610"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/517245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=541603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=541603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=541603"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=541603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}