Scientometrics of Global Scientific Production About Ethnomycology
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Revista Etnobiología. Vol 18, Num. 3. Diciembre 2020. pp: 3-23 ISSNe 2448-8151; ISSN 1665-2703 Fecha de recepción: 29-abril-2020 Fecha de aceptación: 14-agosto-2020 SCIENTOMETRICS OF GLOBAL SCIENTIFIC PRODUCTION ABOUT ETHNOMYCOLOGY Elida Lucia da Cunha1, Lucas Leonardo-Silva1, Lorena Dall’Ara Guimarães2, Solange Xavier-Santos1* 1 Universidade Estadual de Goiás, Campus Central. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Recursos Naturais do Cerrado. Laboratório de Micologia Básica, Aplicada e Divulgação Científica - FungiLab. Br 153, Nº 3105, CEP 75132-400, Caixa Postal 459, Fazenda Barreiro do Meio-Campus Henrique Santillo-Anápolis, Goiás, Brazil. 2 Universidade Federal de Goiás. Instituto de Ciências Humanas e Letras. Campus Samambaia. Laboratório de Etnobiologia, Núcleo Takinahaky de Formação Superior Indígena. CEP 74001-970, Caixa Postal 131, Goiânia, Brazil. *Correo: [email protected] ABSTRACT Ethnomycology is a branch of ethnoknowledge that describes the interaction between fungi and traditional communities over time. This study presents a scientometric analysis of global scientific production about Ethnomycology, based on a survey of articles indexed in Web of Science Core Collection database, between 1991 and 2019. The temporal distribution of the 173 articles obtained, showed a significant increase in over the years, indicating a growing interest in Ethnomycology by the scientific community. The most frequent journals were Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine (18%) and Economic Botany (12%), and the principal authors were Luczaj, L (1.7%), Garibay-Orijel, R (1.5%), Estrada-Torres, A and Pieroni, A (both with 1.3%). The most studied locations involve indigenous communities and are in Mexico (22%), followed by India (9%) and China (7%), and over half of the institutions where the research was conducted were also Mexican. The primary focus of the studies was the purpose of fungal use (37%), the most frequently reported being as food (50%) and medicine (32%). Of the 838 species mentioned, the most prominent were Cantharellus cibarius Fr. (3.7%), Boletus edulis Bull. (3.3%) and Agaricus campestris sensu Cooke (2.6%), all edible. The data showed that the ethnomycological knowledge available is strongly concentrated in Mexico, and the primary focus of use of fungi is as food. The main trends point to Ethnomycology as a young Science, but of growing interest, whose ethnomycological knowledge is concentrated in Mexico and in indigenous communities, with focus in use of fungi as food. However, the major gaps demonstrate the need for further ethnomycological studies involving other traditional communities, which not only indigenous, and other regions around the world, which could reveal new relationships between humans and fungi, thereby contributing to the conservation of global mycodiversity. KEYWORDS: Ethnoknowledge, Fungi, Mycology, Scientometry, Traditional communities. 56 da Cunha et al. Global scientometrics on ethnomycology CIENCIOMETRÍA DE LA PRODUCCIÓN CIENTÍFICA GLOBAL EN ETNOMICOLOGÍA RESUMEN La etnomicología es un área del etnoconocimiento que describe la interacción entre los hongos y las comunidades tradicionales a lo largo del tiempo. Este estudio presenta un análisis cienciométrico de la producción científica global sobre Etnomicología, basado en una encuesta de artículos indexados en la base de datos de Web of Science Core Collection, entre 1991 y 2019. La distribución temporal de los 173 artículos obtenidos, mostró un aumento significativo en los años, lo que indica un creciente interés por la etnomicología por parte de la comunidad científica. Las revistas más frecuentes fueron Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine (18%) y Economic Botany (12%), y los autores principales fueron Luczaj, L (1.7%), Garibay-Orijel, R (1.5%), Estrada-Torres, A y Pieroni, A (ambos con 1.3%). Los lugares más estudiados involucran a comunidades indígenas y se encuentran en México (22%), seguido de India (9%) y China (7%), y más de la mitad de las instituciones donde se realizó la investigación también eran mexicanas. El enfoque principal de los estudios fue el propósito del uso de hongos (37%), siendo los más frecuen- temente reportados como alimento (50%) y como medicamento (32%). De las 838 especies mencionadas, las más destacadas fueron Cantharellus cibarius Fr. (3.7%), Boletus edulis Bull. (3.3%) y Agaricus campestris sensu Cooke (2.6%), todos comestibles. Los datos mostraron que el conocimiento etnomicológico disponible está fuertemente concentrado en México, y el enfoque principal del uso de hongos es como alimento. Las principales tendencias apuntan a la Etnomicología como una Ciencia joven, pero de creciente interés, cuyo conocimiento etnomicológico se concentra en México y en comunidades indígenas, con foco en el uso de hongos como alimento. Sin embargo, las principales lagunas demuestran la necesidad de realizar más estudios etnomicológicos que involucren a otras comunidades tradicionales, que no solo son indígenas, y de otras regiones del mundo, que podrían revelar nuevas relaciones entre humanos y hongos, contribuyendo así a la conservación de la micodiversidad global. PALABRAS CLAVE: Cienciometría, Comunidades tradicionales, Etnoconocimiento, Hongos, Micología. INTRODUCTION of Valentina Pavlovna Wasson and Robert Gordon Wasson published in 1957, entitled Mushrooms, Russia Considered one of the most recent areas of ethno- and History, which discusses the use of neurotropic fungi biology, ethnomycology is the study of traditional (hallucinogens) in rituals by peoples of Siberia, Papua knowledge, cultural/environmental manifestations New Guinea and Mexico. In the same book, the authors and implications of the relationships between humans used the terms “mycophobe” and “mycophile” for the and fungi over time and space (Moreno-Fuentes et al., first time to characterize the interactions of fondness 2001). It can also be viewed as the study of the relation- for and/or aversion to fungi, respectively (Boa, 2004). ships between fungi and traditional communities, local knowledge and the use of these fungi, underscoring Ethnomycological studies began with a neurotropic their ecological and cultural importance (Ruan-Soto approach, but other approaches were taken as re- et al., 2009). Comandini & Rinaldi (2020) understand searchers found evidence of other forms of use, such ethnomycology as observing and recording the inter- as medicinal and/or food (Pala et al., 2013). However, actions of fungi with people, in order to understand the relationship between fungi and culture is deeply them as part of nature. rooted in the history of humanity, particularly in China, where they have been consumed since before Christ Ethnomycology had its origin marked by the publication (Aaronson, 2000). Strong interaction has also been ETNOBIOLOGÍA 18 (3), 2020 57 documented between the peoples of Central Africa, (indigenous or non-indigenous) addressed; (viii) focus Mexico and Turkey and wild edible fungi (Boa, 2004). of the work (categorizing it into fungal use, taxonomy, cultivation/commerce, ecology/conservation, gastron- The term scientometry is attributed to quantitative re- omy, medicinal and other importance); (ix) purpose of search aimed at assessing scientific progress in a certain fungal use (categorized as food, medicinal, magical/ topic. These analyses have contributed to elucidating religious, decorative and toxic); and (x) fungal species. the different approaches used in a particular field of It is important to underscore that in the purpose of use knowledge (Strehl & Santos, 2002; Vanti, 2002). In this category, the same article sometimes describes multiple respect, the aim of this study is to present a global forms of fungal use, which explains why the number of scientometric analysis of ethnomycology, revealing uses recorded exceeded the total number of articles. the trends and perspectives of this subject in the area of mycology. Specifically, we evaluate: the temporal Pearson’s correlation (r) (P < 0.05) between the years evolution of the number and focus of the articles; the and number of published articles was calculated to journals, authors and countries from the publication; and determine whether the latter increased over the years. how the different populations of the world use fungi and Likewise, the correlation between all the methods ap- which are these fungi. plied and reasons for fungal use was also calculated over the years. Positive r values indicate an increase in MATERIALS AND METHODS the number of published articles, while negative values suggest a decline. The data were obtained from a search on the Web of Science Core Collection (WoS) database. The search We present a distribution map of the number of articles was made using the terms Ethnomycol* OR (Traditional by country to analyze how these studies are distributed, knowled* AND (Fung* OR Mushroom*), without language using the Quantum GIS software (QGIS Development restriction and indexed to the topics. An asterisk (*) was Team, 2020). The keywords with similar meanings were used in all the terms so that variations in spelling would combined with a view to verifying ethnomycological be considered in the search. research trends over time through principal component analysis (PCA). All the analyses were performed in the The WoS was used for being recognized as the most R Studio software, version 1.1.453 (RStudio Team, 2018). authoritative scientific literature indexing tool available (Li et al., 2018). Thus, only articles published in indexed RESULTS AND DISCUSSION