ACADEMIC COOPERATION: ANALYSIS OF PUBLICATIONS ON ACCOUNTING TEACHING AND RESEARCH IN SCIENTIFIC EVENTS

Abstract

Scientific knowledge is socially developed, based on the collaboration among the authors involved in the process. Departing from this premise, the aim in this study is to map, through the analysis of social networks, collaborative interactions in studies on Accounting Teaching and Research. Therefore, 215 articles were analyzed about the research theme, published in the proceedings of Enanpad, the USP Controllership and Accountancy Congress and Anpcont. The social network analysis method was used to develop the collaborative partnership structures in the study period, ranging from 1999 to 2009. In addition, we intended to check whether the researchers’ centrality indicators are associated with their production, using Spearman’s non-parametric t-test. Centrality identifies the most important authors in a social network in which, the more central, the more relevant these authors’ contribution. At the end of the study, the most important researchers and higher education institutions for the area came out, in terms of the number of authorships as well as the intermediation these researchers and institutions provide. Among the researchers, Gilberto de Andrade Martins and Edgard Bruno Cornachione Jr. stood out, representing the most productive experts. Both are affiliated with the University of São Paulo, the Higher Education Institution (HEI) responsible for the highest number of authorships during the period. In addition, through the analysis of the association between the researchers’ centrality indicators and scientific production volume, a significantly positive association was identified. Thus, it was verified that, the greater the intermediation and co-authorship relations with other experts, the more articles the authors under analysis publish.