Bibliometric analysis of undergraduate final research projects in Nutrition courses in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the profile of academic production of undergraduates in Nutrition courses in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. Methods: The bibliometric study was conducted with undergraduate final research projects from five courses in Nutrition in the state of Rio Grande do Norte during 2013 and 2014. The following variables were collected: institution, title of project, number of authors, academic degree of the advisor, study design, area of study interest, type of study, study setting, submission to the ethics committee, and keywords. Pearson's Chi-square test was used to assess the variable area of study interest with a significance level at p≤0.05 and 95% confidence interval. Results: Of the 195 projects analyzed, 79.0% were developed at universities. We found a higher frequency of academic articles (68.2%) developed by a single student (65.6%), advised by a professor with a Masters degree (57.9%), with a cross-sectional study design (48.2%), and without submission to the research ethics committee (49.2%). The mean adequacy of keywords was 50.0%. Conclusion: The quantitative approach was the most predominant characteristic of the final research projects and the most frequently researched area of knowledge was public health. The methodological approaches of the research projects were considered weak, which suggests the need to improve the quality of scientific methodology during undergraduate studies, considering the important benefits derive from researches as an active methodology.

Scientific production of Nutrition courses in Food and Nutrition in Collective Health: contributions to the debate on professional performance

“…The results related to the general characteristics of the FPs dedicated to FNCH reveal similarities and divergences when compared to the general analysis of all papers (N = 195), previously published (Menêzes, Borges, Santos, & Noro, 2016). The most relevant similarities concern the predominance of articles, the guidance provided by master professors, and the quantitative approach.…”

“…The most relevant similarities concern the predominance of articles, the guidance provided by master professors, and the quantitative approach. The main divergence refers to the study site, which in the papers as a whole predominated the laboratory and, in this study, public services were highlighted (Menêzes et al, 2016). The research in the scope of public services provides HEIs with a perspective of returning to society about the investment received, still very beneficial to the student in training.…”

Educational training of nutritionists in Public Health Nutrition: A systematic review

“…Public Health is recognized by the students as one of the main areas of interest in the education of nutritionists [11], and it is one of the most frequent fields in their senior year projects [23]. However, undergraduate programs still need to provide high quality and effective teaching in order to meet the social demands [13] and a more comprehensive curriculum that goes beyond the biologicist model focus of the undergraduate nutrition courses [11,24,25].…”

“…The student assumes the responsibilities and plays the role of a professional during the curricular internship [11,24,27]. The length, frequency, and workload of internships in PHN are usually low and vary among the countries and higher education institutions [14,23,25,26,[28][29][30].…”

“…In this systematic review, a Brazilian study highlighted the high number of research projects carried out on Public Health [23], a fact that, according to Costa et al [39], contributes to addressing local problems and transforming knowledge into concrete actions. However, some studies emphasize the presence of the research-teaching dichotomy in formal education, and the lecturers were predominantly focused on research activities, overlooking teaching [39][40][41].…”