Análise bibliométrica das publicações científicas sobre experiências relacionadas à possibilidade da autonomia da consciência além do cérebro

Abstract

Introduction: The hypothesis of autonomy of the consciousness in relation to the brain is a controversial subject with a long history of scientific investigations. To date, however, no systematic analysis of the publications on this topic, establishing the state of art in this field and identifying methodological gaps and limitations, has been conducted. Objectives: To conduct a bibliometric search of publications investigating experiences commonly associated with the possibility of the existence of a consciousness independent of the brain held on the main scientific databases. Methods: A search of all articles held on the Pubmed, Web of Knowledge, PsycINFO, Science Direct and Scopus databases up to 31/12/2015 was performed with boolean operators involving the following fields: Near-death experiences (NDE), Out-of-body experiences (OBE), End-of-life experiences (ELE), Possession (POS), Memories suggestive of past lives (PLM), Mediumship (MED), transcommunication, detection of “spirits” and mind-brain relationship. Scientific articles unrelated to the topic or on other areas, unscientific publications, book references and book chapters were all excluded. Results: Of the 9065 articles retrieved, 1954 were included (598 NDE, 223 OBE, 56 ELE, 224 POS, 244 PLM, 565 MED, 44 others). Over the decades, there was an evident increase in the number of articles on all the fields, with the exception of studies on Mediumship which showed a decline during the late twentieth century and subsequent rise in the early twenty-first century. Regarding the types of articles found, with the exception of Past-life memories and End-of-life experiences (mostly original studies), publications were predominantly review articles. The articles were published in journals with an average impact factor similar to other areas of science, such as positive psychology and cardiovascular rehabilitation. Conclusion: Overall, publications of studies on survival of the consciousness have tended to increase over recent decades in journals with similar impact factors to other areas, although these studies were predominantly review articles. Identifying gaps can help guide future studies in the area.