Pesquisadores da odontologia estão nas redes sociais? Análise da comunicação científica antes e durante a pandemia

Abstract

The objective of this observational study was to investigate the participation of recognized dental researchers from Brazil in social network services and evaluate the types of content that these researchers post online. A search for active CNPq Research Productivity scholars in dentistry was carried out in CNPq’s website. The search for the presence of the researchers also was carried out on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. After identifying the profiles/pages, the content of the posts was carried out considering two distinct periods: 30 days before and 30 days after March 20, 2020, which corresponds to data of the calamity decree in Brazil due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 213 researchers was identified: 62% male and 38% female, the average of years after PhD was 20, 56.3% had a PQ-2 scholarship, 91.5% of the scholarship holders were affiliated with public institutions, and 76.1% were from the southeast region of Brazil. From the 213 researchers, 122 profiles were found on Facebook (57.2%), 115 on Instagram (53.9%), and 30 on Twitter (14%). However, only 34 (15.9%) were active public profiles on Facebook, 30 (14%) on Instagram and 11 (5.1%) on Twitter. Among those public profiles, the number of publications with content considered scientific was considered high, corresponding to 2/3 of the total number of publications made by the participants in the three social networks assessed. On Facebook, it was observed that the average number of publications in the 1st period was lower than in the 2nd period and that the majority of researchers who had an active public profile (64.7%) published about science in both periods. On Instagram, the number of posts was similar in the 1st and 2nd periods. In addition, 90% of the researchers who have an active public profile posted content about science in both periods. On Twitter, it was observed that the number of publications increased considerably during the pandemic: an average of 7 in the 1st period and 26 in the 2nd period. In addition, it was not possible to observe clear differences in posts between before and during the pandemic. The present study suggests that recognized dental researches in Brazil use social network services frequently and published scientific content in an expressive manner during the pandemic.