Science popularization: a systematic literature review

Abstract

There are many terms used to communicate scientific results coming from research projects in view of the interlocution between science and society, among them it is possible to mention: scientific literacy, scientific disclosure, knowledge popularization, scientific dissemination. In search of understanding these distinct terminologies, a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) was conducted on “science popularization”, in order to understand and explore the use of the term, to know its historical path, the results of the studies already performed as well as the authors who are references on the subject. This is a quantitative and qualitative research that, through the SLR, located and analyzed 26 scientific papers made available on the Periodical Portal of the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES), Google Academic and Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO). For the development of this SLR, the study considered the contributions of Akobeng (2005), Costa and Zoltowski (2014) and Vosgerau and Romanowski (2014). The research results show the regions and periodicals with publications on the subject, the most recurring keywords as well as the authors who publish in the area. In addition, it was possible to observe the evolution and branch of the terms used to communicate the results of scientific research, historical records and political, institutional and spontaneous initiatives for the science popularization.