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

Abstract

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.