The expansion of the Materials Science area
The Materials Science area has presented an important performance in the last years. This has been shown by a study based in data mining made between 2003 and 2009 of the articles published in scientific journals indexed by Thomson/ISI (http://www.fiocruz.br/ioc/media/relatorio_2009.pdf). While in the whole world the Materials Science area expanded 34% in that period, the growth observed for all areas of knowledge was smaller than 26%. In Latin America the Materials Science area has grown 39% in the period 2003-2009 and up to 41% in Brazil. This shows that the region of the world that is characterized by the intensive production of prime matter has recently progressed very much scientifically on the comprehension, on the development and on the optimization of new and conventional materials. An example is shown in this edition of the Materia journal, which presents the possibility to use natural fibers in engineering applications where they might substitute with advantages conventional and synthetic fibers. The next step to this scientific advancement will be the effective use of these and other new materials by the society. To do that, an effort will be needed in the technology innovation area that demands financial investment and business creativity. The Latin American area of Materials Science has created the basis for this technological advancement, which is imagined to be in its dawning process.
Sincerely yours,
Paulo Emílio V. de Miranda
Editor-in-Chief
Publication Dates
-
Publication in this collection
25 Mar 2011 -
Date of issue
2010
