Bibliometric analysis of human–wildlife conflict: From conflict to coexistence

Human–wildlife conflict (HWC) is a significant challenge for biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. Effective mitigation of HWC requires a multidisciplinary, holistic, and comprehensive approach. In the past two decades, scientific research has focused on HWC. It can be expected that in the next few years, the number of HWC literature will continue to increase. In this study, the VOSviewer version 1.6.16, and Bibliometrix packages in R were used to conduct a quantitative review of the HWC literature and investigate its social network and development trends. The results show that 2197 publications about HWC have been published in 320 journals from 128 countries in 2003–2021. The United States is the largest producer with 893. Among all journals, Biological Conservation ranked first in terms of total link strength, number of links, documents, and citations. The analysis of keywords, development trends, and development themes shows that the research on HWC mainly includes three aspects: the conflict between humans and carnivores, conflict between humans and herbivores, and protection of the human dimension. The main focus of the research has shifted from the conflict itself to the coexistence of humans and wild animals through the integration of natural and economic factors. It is expected that HWC research will play a key role in generating the interdisciplinary scientific knowledge needed to promote biodiversity conservation and sustainable development.     

基于文献计量分析的生态系统服务研究现状及热点

生态系统服务是生态学研究的核心和热点议题。近年来,各国和各相关机构对生态系统服务的研究力度不断加大。基于SCI-E和CNKI数据库,利用文献计量方法,分析了国内外生态系统服务研究的发展特征和变化趋势。研究结果表明:(1)国内外生态系统服务研究的发文量不断增加,发展态势良好。(2)发达国家是生态系统服务领域的主要研究力量,美国占据绝对领先地位;美国的加利福尼亚大学是主要研究机构;总体来看,国家和机构间的合作正在不断增强。(3)当前该领域的8类研究热点分别是生态系统服务机理研究,保护管理及可持续性、生物多样性、脆弱性、土地利用及景观变化、评估与模型、气候变化、政策与决策分析。从各个时期国内外研究热点整体分布情况来看,国际更侧重于生态系统服务及生态系统服务与人类福祉的依存关系的研究,国内则更加关注生态系统服务评估。(4)近年来中国在生态系统服务研究领域的国际地位有所提升,科研产出量显著增加,累积发文量居世界第5位,中国科学院是全球主要研究机构之一,但论文被引频次相对偏低,国际合作亟待加强和提升。     

Systematic conservation planning: Trends and patterns among highly-cited papers

Systematic conservation planning (SCP) is a field of conservation biology concerned with the effective allocation of conservation efforts and the implementation of actions aiming to guarantee biodiversity persistence in the long-term and the efficient use of conservation resources. Here, we evaluated the main spatial-temporal trends and patterns among highly-cited papers in SCP. We considered “highly-cited” articles as those papers with at least 100 citations according to Web of Science database. A total of 132 highly-cited articles were published between 1989 and 2014, with the highest frequency at 2006. Papers were published in 25 different scientific journals (with a highlight for Conservation Biology and Biological Conservation) by researchers from 208 institutions and 25 countries (most from Australia and USA). Most of the analytical and methodological studies were carried out in the terrestrial environment, by considering more than one taxonomic group, and at a regional scale. Eleven studies included information on costs (e.g., economic or land use) in the prioritization process, and only one article considered information on other biodiversity dimensions such as phylogenetic diversity. Among analytical papers, 41 included only biodiversity data in the prioritization process, while 16 papers considered data on other features such as ecosystem services, biophysical factors, and vegetation. Furthermore, a plethora of different algorithms and software were used to perform the analyses. By analyzing the top-cited papers, we could track through time the main advances and stages of the development in SCP.     

Free-living nematodes research: State of the art,prospects, and future directions. A bibliometric analysis approach

Nematodes are among the most successful metazoans inhabiting the Earth and they are pivotal components as in terrestrial as in aquatic (both in marine and freshwater) environments providing important ecosystem services. The aim of this study was to understand major research trends and topics on free-living nematodes inhabiting soil, marine and freshwater environments and to highlight possible differences among them. To achieve this objective, a bibliometric analysis was performed using Scopus database. The indexed global scientific literature on free-living nematodes from 1912 to 2021 was explored using VOSviewer software, allowing a comprehensive overview of the topic. The analyses of co-authorship (among researchers and countries), the co-occurrence of keywords and the analysis of citation of journals were performed. Overall, free-living soil nematodes found a wider audience in high ranked journals especially when compared with freshwater nematodes. Marine nematodes stand in between them and many aspects of biodiversity research in marine ecosystems are covered by high-medium ranked journals (i.e. taxonomy, systematic, phylogeny, morphological and genetic diversity). Although, the estimation of the taxonomic diversity of the phylum Nematoda enumerated a high number of documents, an increasing attention emerged for the investigation of pollution effects (i.e. nematodes as bioindicators of environmental status) and the use of nematodes as model organisms for addressing scientific questions in line with the Eco-Evo-Devo (Ecological Evolutionary Developmental biology) approach. These fundamental themes were indirectly confirmed by the co-authorship analysis, which revealed that taking integrative approaches between taxonomy (both morphological and molecular), ecological and evolutionary aspects attracted a higher number of citations.     

Impact of GDP,Spending on R&D,Number of Universities and Scientific Journals on Research Publications among Asian Countries

Objectives

This study aimed to compare the impact of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, spending on Research and Development (R&D), number of universities, and Indexed Scientific Journals on total number of research documents (papers), citations per document and Hirsch index (H-index) in various science and social science subjects among Asian countries.

Materials and Methods

In this study, 40 Asian countries were included. The information regarding Asian countries, their GDP per capita, spending on R&D, total number of universities and indexed scientific journals were collected. We recorded the bibliometric indicators, including total number of research documents, citations per document and H-index in various science and social sciences subjects during the period 1996–2011. The main sources for information were World Bank, SCI-mago/Scopus and Web of Science; Thomson Reuters.

Results

The mean per capita GDP for all the Asian countries is 14448.31±2854.40 US$, yearly per capita spending on R&D 0.64±0.16 US$, number of universities 72.37±18.32 and mean number of ISI indexed journal per country is 17.97±7.35. The mean of research documents published in various science and social science subjects among all the Asian countries during the period 1996–2011 is 158086.92±69204.09; citations per document 8.67±0.48; and H-index 122.8±19.21. Spending on R&D, number of universities and indexed journals have a positive correlation with number of published documents, citations per document and H-index in various science and social science subjects. However, there was no association between the per capita GDP and research outcomes.

Conclusion

The Asian countries who spend more on R&D have a large number of universities and scientific indexed journals produced more in research outcomes including total number of research publication, citations per documents and H-index in various science and social science subjects.     

Confundiendo al confuso: reflexiones sobre el factor de impacto,el índice h(irsch), el valor Q y otros cofactores que influyen en la felicidad del investigador

BackgroundThe need to evaluate curricula for sponsorship for research projects or professional promotion, has led to the search for tools that allow an objective valuation. However, the total number papers published, or citations of articles of a particular author, or the impact factor of the Journal where they are published are inadequate indicators for the evaluation of the quality and productivity of researchers. The h index, proposed by Hirsch, categorises the papers according to the number of citations per article. This tool appears to lack the limitations of other bibliometric tools but is less useful for non English-speaking authors.AimsTo propose and debate the usefulness of the existing bibliometric indicators and tools for the evaluation and categorization of researchers and scientific journals.MethodsSearch for papers on bibliometric tools.ResultsThere are some hot spots in the debate on the national and international evaluation of researchers’ productivity and quality of scientific journals. Opinions on impact factors and h index have been discussed. The positive discrimination, using the Q value, is proposed as an alternative for the evaluation of Spanish and Iberoamerican researchers.ConclusionsIt is very important de-mystify the importance of bibliometric indicators. The impact factor is useful for evaluating journals from the same scientific area but not for the evaluation of researchers’ curricula. For the comparison of curricula from two or more researchers, we must use the h index or the proposed Q value. the latter allows positive discrimination of the task for Spanish and Iberoamerican researchers.     

Global Nanotribology Research Output (1996–2010): A Scientometric Analysis

This study aims to assess the nanotribology research output at global level using scientometric tools. The SCOPUS database was used to retrieve records related to the nanotribology research for the period 1996–2010. Publications were counted on a fractional basis. The level of collaboration and its citation impact were examined. The performance of the most productive countries, institutes and most preferred journals is assessed. Various visualization tools such as the Sci² tool and Ucinet were employed. The USA ranked top in terms of number of publications, citations per paper and h-index, while Switzerland published a higher percentage of international collaborative papers. The most productive institution was Tsinghua University followed by Ohio State University and Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, CAS. The most preferred journals were Tribology Letters, Wear and Journal of Japanese Society of Tribologists. The result of author keywords analysis reveals that Molecular Dynamics, MEMS, Hard Disk and Diamond like Carbon are major research topics.     

从文献计量角度分析中国生物多样性研究现状

以汤森路透科技集团的WEB OF KNOWLEDGE信息平台提供的Science Citation Index Expanded数据库为数据源,检索到从1997年至2009年期间国际生物多样性研究论文文献219773篇,其中11182篇来自于中国学者。利用NoteExpress软件,对这13a间生物多样性研究论文发表的国家分布、年度分布、研究机构、引用情况、期刊分布和学科分类等做的分析与比较表明:1)全球生物多样性研究的论文数量一直呈增长趋势,中国13年间每年发文量占当年全球生物多样性论文总量的百分率逐年增加;2)从论文总被引频次、篇均引用次数和h-index三项论文影响力特征参数分析,中国与国际其他国家相比有一定差距;3)从学科分类来看,与国际相比,中国在生物多样性保护领域、进化生物学和海洋与淡水生物学领域研究略显不足,昆虫学和真菌学研究领域活跃。     

Arctic rhodolith beds and their environmental controls (Spitsbergen, Norway)

Coralline algae (Corallinales, Rhodophyta) that form rhodoliths are important ecosystem engineers and carbonate producers in many polar coastal habitats. This study deals with rhodolith communities from Floskjeret (78°18′N), Krossfjorden (79°08′N), and Mosselbukta (79°53′N), off Spitsbergen Island, Svalbard Archipelago, Norway. Strong seasonal variations in temperature, salinity, light regime, sea-ice coverage, and turbidity characterize these localities. The coralline algal flora consists of Lithothamnion glaciale and Phymatolithon tenue. Well-developed rhodoliths were recorded between 27 and 47 m water depth, while coralline algal encrustations on lithoclastic cobbles were detected down to 77 m water depth. At all sites, ambient waters were saturated with respect to both aragonite and calcite, and the rhodolith beds were located predominately at dysphotic water depths. The rhodolith-associated macrobenthic fauna included grazing organisms such as chitons and echinoids. With decreasing water depth, the rhodolith pavements were regularly overgrown by non-calcareous Polysiphonia-like red algae. The corallines are thriving and are highly specialized in their adaptations to the physical environment as well as in their interaction with the associated benthic fauna, which is similar to other polar rhodolith communities. The marine environment of Spitsbergen is already affected by a climate-driven ecological regime shift and will lead to an increased borealization in the near future, with presently unpredictable consequences for coralline red algal communities.     

Trends on enzyme immobilization researches based on bibliometric analysis

In this survey, a bibliometric analysis of the global scientific production on enzyme immobilization researches was developed using Web of Science© database. The time-span comprised the period from 1991 to 2017. A total of 9636 documents related to the subject were retrieved and analyzed according to seven main aspects: publication years, journals, countries, authors, organizations, keywords, and Web of Science categories. The results indicated that the countries with the highest number of publications were China and the United States. The most expressive international collaborative networks were evidenced between Brazil and Spain and between the USA and China. Additionally, the Spanish researchers were the ones that contributed most to this domain, while the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas and the Chinese Academy of Sciences were the most emblematic organizations. Finally, the analysis of keywords revealed that biosensor, lipase and glucose oxidase were the most cited terms among all publications, and also indicated the existence of a possible knowledge gap involving the terms Escherichia coli, Candida rugosa lipase and cytochrome-c in the context of enzyme immobilization. This study was efficient to evaluate the trends of the body of literature on enzyme immobilization research, subsidizing future decision-making in this field of science.     

基于近10年红球菌发展的文献计量分析

【背景】近些年,越来越多的研究集中在红球菌上,很少有研究人员对现有文献进行全面回顾。【目的】为了探究国内外红球菌领域的研究热点、前沿和未来发展趋势,以便为后续研究人员提供全面直观的参考。【方法】对近10年发表在Web of Science的红球菌领域论文进行统计分析和文献计量分析。通过VOSviewer文献可视化软件绘制作者标签视图和关键词共现网络图。【结果】全球有关红球菌领域的发文量总体呈逐年上升趋势,发表期刊多为微生物学领域的专科期刊,中国和美国的文章发表数和引用数远超其他国家,红球菌的研究内容也主要集中在生物催化、生物降解和非核糖体肽合成酶等方面。【结论】红球菌在世界范围内越来越受到重视,并逐渐成为研究热点,国家和研究机构应继续加强合作,推动红球菌领域的继续发展。     

近30年来中美生态系统服务研究热点对比分析——基于文献计量研究

近年来生态系统服务研究已经成为了生态学、地理学及环境科学领域的热点和核心议题。基于SCI-E和CNKI数据库,运用文献计量和文本分析法对比了中美两国生态系统服务研究现状和热点。结果表明:(1)近30年来中美两国生态系统服务领域的发文量分别是9327篇和9468篇,均呈现快速增长趋势。(2)就中美两国发文篇均被引频次和总被引频次而言,中国科学院生态环境研究中心和斯坦福大学分别位列第1。美国刊发生态系统服务研究文稿最多的期刊是Ecological Economics,PNAS刊发的文章引用率最高;生态学报刊发的中文文章最多且被引用率最高。研究成果影响力最大的中美两国学者分别是欧阳志云、傅伯杰、Kremen C和Polasky S等。(3)不同时期中美两国所关注的研究热点不同。美国作为生态系统服务研究的主要发源地,在理论研究和方法上都相对领先于中国。(4)美国的研究侧重于理论与模型构建,中国的基础应用研究成果丰富。近年来两国越来越关注人类福祉、生态安全等全球性问题,生态系统服务与人类福祉及科学决策正成为新的热点。在全球可持续发展的背景下,两国在生态系统服务研究方面具有良好的交流与合作前景。     

Emerging journals. The benefits of and challenges for publishing scientific journals in and by emerging countries

Emerging countries have established national scientific journals as an alternative publication route for their researchers. However, these journals eventually need to catch up to international standards.Since the first scientific journal was founded—The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society in 1665—the number of journals dedicated to publishing academic research has literally exploded. The Thomson Reuters Web of Knowledge database alone—which represents far less than the total number of academic journals—includes more than 11,000 journals from non-profit, society and commercial publishers, published in numerous languages and with content ranging from the natural sciences to the social sciences and humanities. Notwithstanding the sheer scale and diversity of academic publishing, however, there is a difference between the publishing enterprise in developed countries and emerging countries in terms of the commercial rationale behind the journals.…‘national'' or even ‘local'' journals are published and supported because they report important, practical information that would be declined by international journals…Although all academic journals seek to serve their readership by publishing the highest quality and most interesting advances, a growing trend in the twentieth century has also seen publishers in developed countries viewing academic publishing as a way of generating profit, and the desire of journal editors to publish the best and most interesting science thereby serves the commercial interest of publishers who want people to buy the publication.In emerging countries, however, there are few commercial reasons to publish a journal. Instead, ‘national'' or even ‘local'' journals are published and supported because they report important, practical information that would be declined by international journals, either because the topic is of only local or marginal interest, or because the research does not meet the high standards for publication at an international level. Consequently, most ‘national'' journals are not able to finance themselves and depend on public funding. In Brazil, for instance, the national journals account for one-third of the publications of all scientific articles from Brazil and are mostly funded by the government. Other emerging countries that invest in research—notably China, India and Russia—also have a sizable number of national journals, most of which are published in their native language.There is little competition between developed countries to publish the most or the best scientific journals. There is clear competition between the top-flight journals—Nature and Science, for example—but this competition is academically and/or commercially, rather than nationally, based. In fact, countries with similar scientific calibres in terms of the research they generate, differ greatly in terms of the number of journals published within their borders. According to the Thomson Reuters database, for example, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Sweden published 847, 202 and 30 scientific journal, respectively, in 2010—the Netherlands has been a traditional haven for publishers. However, the number of articles published by researchers in these countries in journals indexed by Thomson Reuters—a rough measurement of scientific productivity—does not differ significantly.To overcome the perceived dominance of international journals […] some emerging countries have increased the number of national journalsScientists who edit directly or serve on the editorial boards of high-quality, international journals have a major responsibility because they guide the direction and set the standards of scientific research. In deciding what to publish, they define the quality of research, promote emerging research areas and set the criteria by which research is judged to be new and exciting; they are the gatekeepers of science. The distribution of these scientists also reflects the division between developed and emerging countries in scientific publishing. Using the Netherlands, Switzerland and Sweden as examples, they respectively contributed 235, 256 and 160 scientists to the editorial teams or boards of 220 high-impact, selected journals in 2005 (Braun & Diospatonyi, 2005). These numbers are comparable with the scientific production of these countries in terms of publications. On the other hand, Brazil, South Korea and Russia, countries as scientifically productive in terms of total number of articles as the Netherlands, Switzerland and Sweden, contributed only 28, 29 and 55 ‘gatekeepers'', respectively. A principal reason for this difference is, of course, the more variable quality of the science produced in emerging countries, but it is nevertheless clear that their scientists are under-represented on the teams that define the course and standards of scientific research.To overcome the perceived dominance of international journals, and to address the significant barriers to getting published that their scientists face, some emerging countries have increased the number of national journals (Sumathipala et al, 2004). Such barriers have been well documented and include poor written English and the generally lower or more variable quality of the science produced in emerging countries. However, although English, which is the lingua franca of modern science (Meneghini & Packer, 2007), is not as great a barrier as some would claim, there is some evidence of a conscious or subconscious bias among reviewers and editors in judging articles from emerging countries. (Meneghini et al, 2008; Sumathipala et al, 2004).A third pressure has also forced some emerging countries to introduce more national journals in which to publish academic research from within their borders: greater scientific output. During the past two or three decades, several of these countries have made huge investments into research—notably China, India and Brazil, among others—which has enormously increased their scientific productivity. Initially, the new national journals aspired to adopt the rigid rules of peer review and the quality standards of international journals, but this approach did not produce satisfactory results in terms of the quality of papers published. On the one hand, it is hard for national journals to secure the expertise of scientists competent to review their submissions; on the other, the reviewers who do agree tend to be more lenient, ostensibly believing that peer review as rigorous as that of international journals would run counter to the purpose of making scientific results publicly available, at least on the national level.The establishment of national journals has, in effect, created two parallel communication streams for scientists in emerging countries: publication in international journals—the selective route—and publication in national journals—the regional route. On the basis of their perceived chances to be accepted by an international journal, authors can choose the route that gives them the best opportunity to make their results public. Economic conditions are also important as the resources to produce national journals come from government, so national journals can face budget cuts in times of austerity. In the worst case, this can lead to the demise of national journals to the disadvantage of authors who have built their careers by publishing in them.…to not publish, for any reason, is to break the process of science and potentially inhibit progressThere is some anecdotal evidence that authors who often or almost exclusively publish in international journals hold national journals in some contempt—they regard them as a way of avoiding the effort and hassle of publishing internationally. Moreover, although the way in which governments regard and support the divergent routes varies between countries, in general, scientists who endure and succeed through the selective route often receive more prestige and have more influence in shaping national science policies. Conversely, authors who choose the regional publication route regard their efforts as an important contribution to the dissemination of information generated by the national scientific community, which might otherwise remain locked away—by either language or access policies. Either way, it is worth mentioning that publication is obviously not the end point of a scientific discovery: the results should feed into the pool of knowledge and might inspire other researchers to pursue new avenues or devise new experiments. Hence, to not publish, for any reason, is to break the process of science and potentially inhibit progress.The choice of pursuing publication in regional or international journals also has direct consequences for the research being published. The selective, international route ensures greater visibility, especially if the paper is published in a high-impact journal. The regional route also makes the results and experiments public, but it fails to attract international visibility, in particular if the research is not published in English.It seems that, for the foreseeable future, this scenario will not change. If it is to change, however, then the revolution must be driven by the national journals. In fact, a change that raises the quality and value of national journals would be prudent because it would give scientists from emerging countries the opportunity to sit on the editorial boards of, or referee for, the resulting high-quality national journals. In this way, the importance of national journals would be enhanced and scientists from emerging countries would invest effort and gain experience in serving as editors or referees.The regional route has various weaknesses, however, the most important of which is the peer-review process. Peer-review at national journals is simply of a lower standard owing to several factors that include a lack of training in objective research assessment, greater leniency and tolerance of poor-quality science, and an unwillingness by top researchers to participate because they prefer to give their time to the selective journals. This creates an awkward situation: on the one hand, the inability to properly assess submissions, and on the other hand, a lack of motivation to do so.Notwithstanding these difficulties, most editors and authors of national journals hope that their publications will ultimately be recognized as visible, reliable sources of information, and not only as instruments to communicate national research to the public. In other words, their aspiration is not only to publish good science—albeit of lesser interest to international journals—but also to attain the second or third quartiles of impact factors in their areas. These journals should eventually be good enough to compete with the international ones, mitigating their national character and attracting authors from other countries.The key is to raise the assessment procedures at national journals to international standards, and to professionalize their operations. Both goals are interdependent. The vast majority of national journals are published by societies and research organizations and their editorial structures are often limited to local researchers. As a result, they are shoestring operations that lack proper administrative support and international input, and can come across as amateurish. The SciELO (Scientific Electronic Library Online), which indexes national journals and measures their quality, can require certain changes when it indexes a journal, including the requirement to internationalize the editorial body or board.…experienced international editors should be brought in to strengthen national journals, raise their quality and educate local editors…In terms of improving this status quo, a range of other changes could be introduced. First, more decision-making authority should be given to publishers to decide how to structure the editorial body. The choice of ad hoc assistants—that is, professional scientists who can lend expertise at the editorial level should be selected by the editors—who should also assess journal performance. Moreover, publishers should try to attract international scientists with editorial experience to join a core group of two or three chief or senior editors. Their English skills, their experience in their research field and their influence in the community would catalyse a rapid improvement of the journals and their quality. In other words, experienced international editors should be brought in to strengthen national journals, raise their quality and educate local editors with the long-term objective to join the international scientific editing community. It would eventually merge the national and the selective routes of publishing into a single international route of scientific communication.Of course, there is a long way to go. The problem is that many societies and organizations do not have sufficient resources—money or experience—to attract international scientists as editors. However, new publishing and financial models could provide incentives to attract this kind of expertise. Ultimately, relying on government money alone is neither a reliable nor sufficient source of income to make national journals successful. One way of enhancing revenue streams might be to switch to an open-access model that would charge author fees that could be reinvested to improve the journals. In Brazil, for instance, almost all journals have adopted the open access model (Hedlund et al, 2004). The author fees—around US$1,250—if adopted, would provide financial support for increasing the quality and performance of the journals. Moreover, increased competition between journals at a national level should create a more dynamic and competitive situation among journals, raising the general quality of the science they publish. This would also feed back to the scientific community and help to raise the general standards of science in emerging countries.     

Heterozoan carbonate-enriched beach sand and coastal dunes—with particular reference to rhodoliths,Dirk Hartog Island,Shark Bay,Western Australia

This is a preliminary interdisciplinary study on the enrichment of heterozoan carbonates on Dirk Hartog Island, Shark Bay, Western Australia, with particular reference to rhodolith (free-living non-geniculate) coralline algae. The current study aims to investigate the geological impact of shallow-water rhodoliths in Shark Bay, as well as fill critical information gaps on the biogeographical distribution of rhodoliths in Australia. We analyzed the composition of sand from eight sites (totaling 21 beach and sand dune samples) on the eastern (windward) shore of the island, and investigated the origin of the coralline algal grains. Heterozoan carbonates (shell, geniculate coralline algae grains, and rhodolith grains) together comprised 3–84% of the carbonate-enriched beach and dune sand samples. While shell fragments often comprised the highest percentage (up to 73%), rhodolith grains (up to 27%) were found in 12 of 21 samples, with rhodolith grains also occurring in two dune samples. Geologically, the study has shown that rhodoliths and rhodolith beds are important shallow-marine habitats in Shark Bay, with a proven capacity to enrich beach/dune sands in Shark Bay and potentially other areas along the Australian coast. Biogeographically, the study confirmed the presence of a previously undescribed shallow rhodolith bed in Shark Bay (the first bed documented on the Western shore) with the possibility of a third bed near Sandy Point on Dirk Hartog Island. It also confirmed the presence of rhodolith forming Neogoniolithon brassica-florida and Lithophyllum sp. in Shark Bay, and is the first record of Hydrolithon reinboldii rhodoliths in Australia.     

Global research trends on bioflocculant potentials in wastewater remediation from 1990 to 2019 using a bibliometric approach

The preference of biofloculants over chemical flocculants in water and wastewater remediation systems has gained wider attention due to their biodegradability, innocuousness, safety to human and environmental friendliness. The present study aimed to evaluate research outputs on bioflocculant potentials in wastewater remediation from 1990 to 2019 using bibliometric analyses. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first bibliometric report in bioflocculant research. The subject bibliometric dataset was extracted from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) and Scopus using the Boolean, ‘bioflocculant* and waste*’ and analysed for indicators such as a yearly trend, productivity (authors, articles, country, institution and journal source), conceptual framework and collaboration network. We found 119 documents with 347 authors from 78 journal sources on the subject, an annual growth rate of 12·1%, and average citations/document of 15·08. Guo J. and Wang Y. were the top researchers with 15 and 12 outputs respectively. China (42%) and South Africa (9·24%) ranked the top two dominant countries in the field. The top journals were Bioresource Technology (9 papers, 506 citations), Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology (5 papers, 268 citations), whereas, the top institution was Chengdu University of Information and Technology (n = 9 documents) followed by Sichuan Univ. Sci. & Engn, China (n = 8 documents). This study found that lack of intercountry collaboration and research funding adversely affects research participants in the field.     

粪菌移植研究的文献计量学和可视化分析

【背景】粪菌移植是近年医学领域研究的热点,不但能够治疗消化系统疾病,而且在神经及精神系统、心血管系统相关疾病的治疗中均有不错的疗效,有着广阔的应用前景。【目的】掌握国内外粪菌移植的研究现状、热点及发展趋势,为相关领域科研工作者的研究提供参考。【方法】基于Web of Science核心数据库,通过CiteSpace对2011-2021年的年度发文量、作者、国家、期刊、被引情况和关键词等进行可视化分析。【结果】筛选后共纳入4 905篇文献,目前全球粪菌移植研究的文献数量呈快速增长趋势;美国和中国是发文量最多的国家。中国学者的总发文量虽然位居世界第二,但中心度和篇均被引频次较低,说明受关注程度及学术影响力不足,在发文质量上还有待提高;Gastroenterology是国内外学者发文量最多的期刊,Frontiers in Microbiology是中国学者发文量最多的期刊;粪菌移植呈现出多学科交叉的发展特点;粪菌移植目前的研究热点主要与肠内疾病(炎症性肠病、艰难梭菌感染)和肠外疾病(如抑郁、冠状动脉粥样硬化等)有关;粪菌移植在未成年人中的应用、对胰岛素敏感度的影响、测序技术在肠道菌群的应用及...     

The more things changed,the more they stayed the same: Trends in conservation focus 2010–2019

The conservation literature provides an important resource for conservation practice and reflects key areas of current research interest, but not necessarily those of highest priority, in the field of conservation science. In one of the most comprehensive studies of its kind, this paper evaluates 4388 articles from three leading conservation journals with different impact factors (Biological Conservation, Conservation Letters, and Oryx) for the period 2010–2019. The analysis shows that previously identified trends still hold true in many instances, including a continuing taxonomic bias towards vertebrates and particularly in favour of mammals. Geographical biases also persist, favouring Europe and North America with respect to where research is undertaken, who writes about it, and how it is funded, although publication of research conducted in Africa is increasing. It is difficult to evaluate changes in author gender outside the decade studied as this topic has not been widely considered in previous studies, but parity in authorship has not yet been achieved in any of the journals examined. To overcome the biases identified, researchers, editors, and funding organisations collectively still need to do more to redirect conservation efforts where they are most urgently needed and encourage more women and more researchers from lower income countries to participate in research by helping to remove the barriers that currently limit them.     

The feature of papers and citation analysis of eleven journals in tropical medicine indexed by Science Citation Index Expanded

To determine the features of papers, authors, and citation of eleven journals in tropical medicine indexed by Science Citation Index Expanded, the database of the Institute for Scientific Information, we analyzed original articles, editorials, reviews, corrections, letters, biographies, and news published in these journals. The results show that these journals covered 107 countries or regions on six continents. The average number of reference was 23.05, with 87.89% of the references from periodicals. The Price Index was 31.43% and the self-citing rate was 7.02%. The references in the first 20 journals ranked by the amount of citation accounted for 36.71% of the total citations. Brazil, United States, India, and England are more advanced in tropical medicine research. The conclusion is that these journals covered most research done in these countries or regions. Most researches were done by cooperation of the researchers, but many of the publications used outdated articles and should include newer information.     

Species,Habitats, Society: An Evaluation of Research Supporting EU's Natura 2000 Network

The Natura 2000 network is regarded as one of the conservation success stories in the global effort to protect biodiversity. However, significant challenges remain in Natura 2000 implementation, owing to its rapid expansion, and lack of a coherent vision for its future. Scientific research is critical for identifying conservation priorities, setting management goals, and reconciling biodiversity protection and society in the complex political European landscape. Thus, there is an urgent need for a comprehensive evaluation of published Natura 2000 research to highlight prevalent research themes, disciplinary approaches, and spatial entities. We conducted a systematic review of 572 scientific articles and conference proceedings focused on Natura 2000 research, published between 1996 and 2014. We grouped these articles into ‘ecological’ and ‘social and policy’ categories. Using a novel application of network analysis of article keywords, we found that Natura 2000 research forms a cohesive small-world network, owing to the emphasis on ecological research (79% of studies, with a strong focus on spatial conservation planning), and the underrepresentation of studies addressing ‘social and policy’ issues (typically focused on environmental impact assessment, multi-level governance, agri-environment policy, and ecosystem services valuation). ‘Ecological’ and ‘social and policy’ research shared only general concepts (e.g., Natura 2000, Habitats Directive) suggesting a disconnection between these disciplines. The UK and the Mediterranean basin countries dominated Natura 2000 research, and there was a weak correlation between number of studies and proportion of national territory protected. Approximately 40% of ‘social and policy’ research and 26% of ‘ecological’ studies highlighted negative implications of Natura 2000, while 21% of studies found positive social and biodiversity effects. We emphasize the need for designing inter- and transdisciplinary research in order to promote a social-ecological understanding of Natura 2000, and advance EU conservation policies.