A Historical and Statistical Analysis of the Brazilian Academic Production, on Master’s and PhD Level, on the Following Subjects: Geodiversity, Geological Heritage, Geotourism, Geoconservation and Geoparks

The objective of this study was to evaluate the Brazilian academic production at Masters and Doctorate level in geodiversity, geological heritage, geotourism and geoconservation issues. Five main aspects have been examined: the graduate programs where these works were developed, the profiles of the authors and counselors as well, and the distribution of this production, considering the Brazilian regions and states. The main results have pointed that: there was a significant increase in academic production from the first defense in 2003. There is a significant number of teachers counseling in this area. This production is heavily concentrated in institutions located in the Southeast, Northeast and South of Brazil, with very few researches developed in the Midwest and North regions. Most counselors have geology as their first graduation and most of the oriented students are undergraduate in geography where is concentrated the largest number of defenses.


Introduction
The mapping of scientific production in any of the various fields of knowledge is of important concern in both national and international levels.One of the parameters used to situate a country in relation to its production and human resources formation is the volume of theses and dissertations registered in the Graduate Programs.Measuring the scientific vigor and the production related to a particular theme is also done by analyzing the articles, book chapters and books that have been written.The monitoring process of national scientific production must consider all these parameters; an especially important rigor for the newer fields of knowledge, that are not yet fully consolidated.
As for the matter of geodiversity, geological heritage, geoconservation, geotourism and geoparks, we have no knowledge of any other research registered in the literature made on the specific matter of the Brazilian production in this field.However, in the past few decades these themes have become important research subjects in the academic field, with growing production of Masters dissertations and PhD thesis.
Research on such themes in graduate level began mainly in European countries; one of them being Portugal.At least since 1996 the Portuguese have been writing Masters dissertations and PhD thesis either on or involving these issues.In the online page of the European Association for the Conservation of Geological Heritage (ProGEO) one can verify that this subject is present in Universities throughout the country: University of Lisboa (Geography, Earth and Life Sciences), University of Trás-dos-Montes and Alto Douro (Biology and Geology Teaching), University of Algarve (Nature Conservation and Management), University of Porto (Geology and Geology Teaching), University of Açores (Territory and Environmental Planning), University of Coimbra (Territory and Environmental Planning), University Nova of Lisboa (Territory and Environmental Planning), University of Madeira (Earth and Life Sciences).
In Brazil, research began to flourish at the beginning of the 2000 decade.During the initial years, only one Master's dissertation was produced.From 2007 onwards, academic production started to grow uninterruptedly, receiving support and contribution from various programs in many federal states.Even if the field is still in its initial developing phase, both historical analysis and the analysis of its current progress as a subject in Brazilian graduate programs offer us an unique opportunity to survey, map and understand the human resources formation inside this promising field.It is important to highlight that, in 2015, UFRJ's National Museum launched the Geoscience Masters: Geopaleontologic Heritage, the first Master's Program in Brazil to have the theme of geological heritage in its title.
Undoubtedly, as highlighted by Ruban (2015), the matters of historical analysis and geographic distribution of the production are extremely important because they allow a thorough comprehension of scientific progress and the distribution of new ideas in research communities.The present article aims to map the distribution in Brazil of research on geodiversity, geological heritage, geotourism, geoconservation and geoparks in a graduate level, strictu sensu.Its goals are: to document the geographical research patterns regionally and throughout the federal states; to analyze the basic education of graduate students and their supervisors; to analyze the graduate programs in which production on the matter is present; to identify the researchers with the largest number of thesis and dissertation supervisions on the subject, as well as those who have dedicated their Master's Degree and their PhD to this area.Henriques et al. (2011)

Material and Methods
In the survey process, we have used the following keywords as criteria, considering only the publication in which at least one of the keywords was present in title of the thesis or dissertation: geodiversity, geological heritage (in any of its categories), geotourism, geoconservation and geoparks.The need for one of these keywords to be in the title is justified, as it proves the subject's presence in the publications.Even knowing that part of the publications on the subject we intend to analyze does not have any of these words in their titles, we chose this method to facilitate the initial research in mapping the scientific production and to avoid analysis that could disregard publications that are not known to the authors.This research methodology is especially used in the technology and information science area, being known and KWIT (Keyword-in-Title).It was used by Souza & Miranda (2011) to map scientific publications on geological heritage using Brazilian and Portuguese references.
The first phase of the analysis used the references from two databases of Capes (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior), a Foundation of the Brazilian Education Ministery (MEC): the Thesis Database and the Sucupira Platform.On the Thesis Database website, Capes offers search tools that consider keywords, titles and the names of the authors.In the website, one can find summaries for the theses and dissertations that have been defended since 1987 and reported to Capes by the graduate programs.Sucupira Platform was launched in 2014 with the objective of collecting information, for analysis and evaluation purposes, and as a basis for all references in the Graduate National System (SNPG).In it one can find thesis and dissertations that have been defended from 2012 onwards.The search tool offered is a 'course-completion publications' that considers the associated institute, the year of publication and the associated graduate program.It does not offer a keyword/theme search tool; because of this, the search has to be made considering a program´s yearly production, and the publications that are of interest can then be selected.
In the first research phase, in which we the Thesis Database, we noticed that many Graduate Programs have their own repositories and do not insert the publications in Cape's Thesis Database.After this discovery, we started using Sucupira Platform.To facilitate the research, the following graduate programs were selected and considered: Geography, Geology, Tourism, Museology, Environmental Sciences.For each program, we considered theses and dissertations published on a yearly basis between 2012 and 2016.
The original chosen keywords were also used in search engines such as Google Scholar and institutional repositories of universities with graduate programs in the same areas as those considered in our research for the Sucupira Platform.Finally, the authors looked through the Lattes curricula of researchers that operate in this area, so as to verify the Master's and Doctorate Supervisions that have been completed.
The following basic elements relating to the theses and dissertations were accounted for: authorship, teacher orientation, year of publication.As for the institutional data, we chose to register the geographical regions in which they were inserted and the associated graduate program.The complementary registered data was: basic graduate student and supervisor education; the number of thesis and dissertation supervisions for each teacher.At the doctoral level, three theses were defended until 2010.The first thesis is defended in 2007 with the guidance of Professor Carlos Mauricio Noce, at the Graduate Program in Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) -Geology Program.The work, written by Úrsula de Azevedo Ruchkys, is entitled "Patrimônio geológico e geoconservação no Quadrilátero ferrífero, Minas Gerais: potencial para criação de um geoparque da UNESCO".Ruchkys (2007) discusses the potential of the region for its recognition as a geopark from a detailed analysis of sites documenting the geoecological region's history In 2007 is held at Federal University of Bahia (UFBA) Jose Marden Costa Barreto´s dissertation, dealing with geotouristic scripts propositions for the Rio de Contas region, Chapada Diamantina, Bahia, in order to integrate the "Circuito Nacional da Estrada Real" (National Royal Road circuit) that already includes the states of Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo (Barreto, 2007) (Mansur, 2010).It discusses geoconservation strategies and their implementation in the State of Rio de Janeiro, especially in an area where there is a geological heritage with international relevance and how it can be inserted in the Geopark Program.

Production from 2011 to 2016
The works that follow from the pioneers, involve, as a rule, the same themes, but with a certain evolution in the application of methods and techniques.In 2011, are recorded five defenders, the first three masters and other two doctoral theses: Lopes (2011), Covello (2011), Tomasi (2011); Giudice (2011) Hornes (2011).This year, the main focus of the studies was geotouristic use of geological heritage.

Analysis by Geographic Region
Until May 2016 (date of last update of the data used in this article) there are already 80 works defended in graduate level strict sense in Brazil.Seventeen of these works are doctoral thesis and sixty three are dissertations.
All regions of Brazil have records of masters and / or doctoral thesis defended (Figure 2).The region with the highest production is southeast with the participation of Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro A possible explanation for this distribution may be the pioneering initiative in the southeast and northeast regions in these themes of research.The southeast region contributes with 40 defenses, 8 of them being doctoral and 32 masters.The northeast recorded 21 defenses, 6 of them doctoral and 15 in master's degree.The south region has 16 records, 3 of them doctoral and 13 in master's degree.The north and midwest regions are those that record the fewer defenses completed only at the master's level, respectively, 2 and 1.

Analysis in Graduate and Institutional Programs
These defenses were recorded in 18 different types of graduate programs.Most defenses are associated with geography programs (31), followed by the geology ( 14) geoscience (7) and  environmental analysis and modeling systems (7).It should be noted that some programs such as crustal evolution and natural resources, geosciences and environment, mineralogy and petrography are linked to the Departments of Geology (Figure 4).For data presentation purposes, some programs were grouped, creating this way five groups:  A Historical and Statistical Analysis of the Brazilian Academic Production, on Master's and PhD Level, on the Following Subjects: Geodiversity, Geological Heritage, Geotourism, Geoconservation and Geoparks Úrsula de Azevedo Ruchkys; Kátia Leite Mansur & Lilian Carla Moreira Bento It is noticeable that there is a wide range of programs that show the interdisciplinary character of the geodiversity area, geological heritage, geoconservation, geotourism and geoparks, including having registered defenses in programs that apparently have no direct affinity to the area at all such as administration and agricultural economy ones.
The institution which has the largest number of defenses is the UFRJ (11) with contribution of Graduate Programs in Geology and Geography.The second place is occupied by the UFMG that records 10 defenses related to Geology, Geography and Analysis and Modeling of Environmental Systems programs.The third place is occupied by the UFPE that records 06 defenses related to Geosciences and Geography programs..The UFRGS records 05 defenses.With the same amount of records (04 defenses) there are the following universities: UFSC, UFU and USP (Figure 5).

Authors and Advisors
Most of the dissertations and thesis completed were developed by researchers who are undergraduate in geography (44), followed by geology (10) and tourism (10) (Figure 6).Besides these professionals, there are still registered, defenses in the following areas: museology (4), geosciences and environmental education (3 each); life sciences and economic sciences (2 each); agronomy, philosophy, environmental management, ecology and technology in tourism management (1 record for each area).
Most of the dissertations and thesis were guided by geologists (41) and geographers (26) (Figure 7).There is also participation of professionals from other areas, but without emphasis on any of them.Although there are defenses in the Graduate Tourism Programs, professionals undergraduate in this area have not yet registered any concluded supervisions.are currently teaching in college and university level institutions will also be include in this statistic eventually.
From the 15 Doctoral graduates, two are already acting as master´s supervisors in the area, are they: Kátia Leite Mansur and Úrsula de Azevedo Ruchkys.The thesis of both are in the list of pioneering works and most of thesis defended are later than 2010.It is expected that a larger number of researchers that have graduated in the area and who

Final Considerations
Brazil already has a considerable number of thesis and dissertations in various fields of knowledge.It can be said that the country has a significant critical mass formed in the area of geography that has been emerging as an important branch of knowledge.Many researchers who did not develop their graduate within these issues already highlighted in research and act as supervisors for dissertations and thesis.
It should be noticed that the scientific production in this area of knowledge includes: articles, book chapters, books, resumes and the conducting of thematic events.However it was not the object of this net" and it still offers eBooks, videos, brochures and various teaching materials targeted to this area, including a virtual exhibition of samples of minerals and rocks.In 2009, the geographer Laryssa Sheydder created a blog in order to disseminate and promote research and events involving issues of geodiversity, geoconservation and geotourism.These spaces have been used, even for disclosure defenses of dissertations and theses.
The idea of the article was to give an overview on the production-related stricto sense graduate programs that records completed defenses in the areas of geodiversity, geological heritage, geotourism and geoconservation.It is believed that the proposed objectives have been met and it is hoped that this article is the historical record of the first survey on this and also hoped that it would assist researchers who seek the issue in historical and systematic context.
inaugurates academic researches involving the analysed theme with the defense of Wendson Dantas Araújo Medeiros' Master's dissertation at the Graduate Program in Geosciences of the Federal University of Rio Grande

From
2003 to 2007, Brazil has a gap in academic production in terms of dissertations and theses.From 2007 the production becomes continuous (Figure 1): 2003 (1); 2004 to 2006 (0); 2007 (2); 2008 (1); 2009 (2); 2010 (5); 2011 (5); 2012 (10); 2013 (17); 2014 (13); 2015 (17); 2016 (7 -until April).procedures applied to the Paleontological Park of São José de Itaboraí-PPSJI (Itaboraí, Rio de Janeiro) and checks their relevance as equity.Pinto (2009) proposes to characterize the Paleontology Collection of Earth Sciences Museum / DNPM-RJ as Brazilian paleontology's heritage, based on the scenario of contemporary, twentieth century geosciences.In 2010 there is the record of four master's dissertations that were completed individual authorships of: Lilian Carla Moreira Bento, Wellington Francisco Sá dos Santos, Ana Claudia Folmann and Eloisa da Silva Pereira.Bento's work was developed in the Graduate Program in Federal University of Uberlandia (UFU).It talks about identifying, in the city of Indianapolis, Minas Gerais state, in the Triângulo Mineiro region, waterfalls that have the potential for the development of geotourism (Bento, 2010).Santos (2010) addresses the perception of the municipal schools teachers and of the local people about the geotouristic uses and the importance of the Paleontological Park of São José de Itaboraí -RJ, under Professor Ismar de Souza Carvalho's guidance in the Graduate Program in Geology from UFRJ.Folmann (2010) develops her dissertation at the Graduate Program in Geography at State University of Ponta Grossa (UEPG), under the guidance of Professor Maria Ligia Pinto Cassol.The work shows the use of interpretative trails as instruments for geotourism and the geoconservation with case study of the track Salto São Jorge, Paraná, Campos Gerais.Pereira (2010) developed her dissertation at the Parque Estadual da Pedra Branca-RJ, highlighting the points of interest in geotouristic park trails.

Figure 1
Figure 1 Chart presenting number of Master and Doctorate defenses by year.

A
Historical and Statistical Analysis of the Brazilian Academic Production, on Master's and PhD Level, on the Following Subjects: Geodiversity, Geological Heritage, Geotourism, Geoconservation and Geoparks Úrsula de Azevedo Ruchkys; Kátia Leite Mansur & Lilian Carla Moreira Bento and São Paulo states.Followed by the Northeast, with participation of the states of Bahia, Ceará, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Piauí and Rio Grande do Norte.Following the South region highlights with the participation of all states of Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul.The North region is represented by the Roraima state.

Figure 3
Figure 3 Amount of defenses per state.
(a) Geology -combining the geology programs, Geosciences, Crustal Evolution and Natural Resources, Mineralogy and Petrography; (B) Geographyonly Geography programs; (C) Modelling and Environment -Environment and Development, Analysis and Modeling of Environmental Systems, Geosciences and Environment, Modeling and Environmental Sciences; (D) Heritage and Tourism -Museology and Heritage, Cultural Heritage, Tourism; and (E) Other -Agricultural Economics, Natural Sciences, Tropical Marine Science, Management, Knowledge Dissemination.

Figure 4
Figure 4 Amount of defenses in Graduate Programs.

Figure 6
Figure 6 Area of undergraduate course of the authors of the thesis and dissertations analyzed.

Figure 7
Figure 7 Training of the supervisors (their graduation areas).

Figure 8
Figure 8 Number of occurrences of the themes in the title of the theses and dissertations researched.
. The studies were initially placed in the Master Program in Environmental Sciences.In 2007, a specific new Master Program was created because of the growing production in geological heritage and geoconservation.Since 2013/2014 the Master's Program in Geoconservation and Geological Heritage has been officially integrated to the Geoscience Program.The Master's Program in Geoconservation and Geological Heritage has also been contributing in the education of Brazilian researchers and the writing of two Masters dissertations and one PhD thesis: Flávia Lima and MarianaVilas Boas -Master's Degree, and Ricardo Galeno Fraga Araújo Pereira PhD

A Historical and Statistical Analysis of the Brazilian Academic Production, on Master's and PhD Level, on the Following Subjects: Geodiversity, Geological Heritage, Geotourism, Geoconservation and Geoparks
note and suggest the possibility of geoconservation being considered

A Historical and Statistical Analysis of the Brazilian Academic Production, on Master's and PhD Level, on the Following Subjects: Geodiversity, Geological Heritage, Geotourism, Geoconservation and Geoparks
Úrsula de Azevedo Ruchkys; Kátia Leite Mansur & Lilian Carla Moreira Bento do Norte.The work, entitled "Sítios geológicos e geomorfológicos dos municípios de Acarí, Carnaúba de Dantas e Currais Novos, Região do Seridó do Rio Grande do Norte".He was oriented by Professor

.
(Castro, 2009)aster dissertations are defended in Rio de Janeiro, at UNIRIO University in the Graduate Program in Museology and Heritage and guided by Professor Deusana Maria da Costa Machado: Aline Souza Rocha Ferreira de Castro's and Fernanda Nascimento Magalhães Pinto's dissertation.Castro's dissertation(Castro, 2009)analyzes and characterizes geoconservation

A Historical and Statistical Analysis of the Brazilian Academic Production, on Master's and PhD Level, on the Following Subjects: Geodiversity, Geological Heritage, Geotourism, Geoconservation and Geoparks
(Moreira, 2008)do Ruchkys; Kátia LeiteMansur & Lilian Carla Moreira Bentoand the history of mining.In 2008, Jasmine Cardoso Moreira defends her doctoral thesis in geography at Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) under Professor João José Bigarela's guidance(Moreira, 2008).The work involves the analysis of three conservation units, two in Paraná State and Pernambuco State, in relation to their interpretation and dissemination programs of geological heritage.In 2010, in the Doctoral Program at UFRJ University -Geology, is defended the thesis of Kátia Leite Mansur with the guidance of Professor Ismar de Souza Carvalho.The thesis is entitled "Diretrizes para a geoconservação do patrimônio geológico do estado do Rio de Janeiro: o caso do domínio tectônico Cabo Frio"

A Historical and Statistical Analysis of the Brazilian Academic Production, on Master's and PhD Level, on the Following Subjects: Geodiversity, Geological Heritage, Geotourism, Geoconservation and Geoparks
Úrsula de Azevedo Ruchkys; Kátia LeiteMansur & Lilian Carla Moreira Bentowork the analysis of these other types of production.A broader mapping can provide an even more promising overview.Good references and news that have been produced in the area can be seen on the web environment created by professionals working in the theme.At the end of 2004 Professor of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Marcos Antonio Leite do Nascimento, created a discussion group on the internet which currently has 388 members.The group, initially called "geoturismo_ brasil" had its name changed in 2013 to: "patrimonio.geologico".In 2007 Professor Antonio Liccardo of University State of Ponta Grossa designed a page titled "geoturismobrasil.com";its creation was an opportunity to provide information and images on the geotourism development contribution in Brazil.From 2014 the contents of geoturismobrasil.com is migrating to a new email address, "geocultura.