[Scientific production about death and dying themes in a periodical]

The analysis of the production of scientific knowledge has been drawing the attention of many authors in several fields of study. The observation of this tendency consolidated my interest in embarking upon scientific knowledge by analyzing the material published by "OMEGA--Journal of Death and Dying", an American periodical journal that specifically refers to published matter connected with the themes of death and dying. With this objective, I analysed the production that this journal provided from 1980 to 1994, totalizing 526 articles. To the analysis characteristics of the authors and co-authors were considered, themes discussed, and the methods used, including the main methodological tools. Results enable us to discern the tendencies of thematic approach as well as how they are combined and the possibilities of a methodological approach.