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Climate change and interdisciplinarity: a co-citation analysis of IPCC Third Assessment Report

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  • Andreas Bjurström

    (University of Gothenburg)

  • Merritt Polk

    (University of Gothenburg)

Abstract

This study addresses whether interdisciplinarity is a prominent feature of climate research by means of a co-citation analysis of the IPCC Third Assessment Report. The debate on interdisciplinarity and bibliometric measures is reviewed to operationalize the contested notion of interdisciplinarity. The results, based on 6417 references of the 96 most frequently used journals, demonstrate that the IPCC assessment of climate change is best characterized by its multidisciplinarity where the physical, biological, bodily and societal dimensions are clearly separated. Although a few fields and journals integrate a wide variety of disciplines, integration occurs mainly between related disciplines (narrow interdisciplinarity) which indicate an overall disciplinary basis of climate research. It is concluded that interdisciplinarity is not a prominent feature of climate research. The significance of this finding is explored, given that the problem scope of climate change necessitates interdisciplinarity. Ways to promote interdisciplinarity are suggested by way of conclusion.

Suggested Citation

  • Andreas Bjurström & Merritt Polk, 2011. "Climate change and interdisciplinarity: a co-citation analysis of IPCC Third Assessment Report," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 87(3), pages 525-550, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:87:y:2011:i:3:d:10.1007_s11192-011-0356-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-011-0356-3
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    1. Wei, Yi-Ming & Mi, Zhi-Fu & Huang, Zhimin, 2015. "Climate policy modeling: An online SCI-E and SSCI based literature review," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 57(PA), pages 70-84.
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    3. E. Lisa F. Schipper & Navroz K. Dubash & Yacob Mulugetta, 2021. "Climate change research and the search for solutions: rethinking interdisciplinarity," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 168(3), pages 1-11, October.
    4. Jiming Hu & Yin Zhang, 2017. "Discovering the interdisciplinary nature of Big Data research through social network analysis and visualization," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 112(1), pages 91-109, July.
    5. Rachel Einecker & Andrew Kirby, 2020. "Climate Change: A Bibliometric Study of Adaptation, Mitigation and Resilience," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-16, August.
    6. Schymura, Michael & Löschel, Andreas, 2012. "Investigating JEEM empirically: A story of co-authorship and collaboration," ZEW Discussion Papers 12-029, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    7. Michael Schymura & Andreas Löschel, 2014. "Incidence and extent of co-authorship in environmental and resource economics: evidence from the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 99(3), pages 631-661, June.
    8. Mao, Guozhu & Liu, Xi & Du, Huibin & Zuo, Jian & Wang, Linyuan, 2015. "Way forward for alternative energy research: A bibliometric analysis during 1994–2013," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 276-286.
    9. Ferenc Jankó & Judit Papp Vancsó & Norbert Móricz, 2017. "Is climate change controversy good for science? IPCC and contrarian reports in the light of bibliometrics," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 112(3), pages 1745-1759, September.
    10. Li Xu & Dora Marinova, 2013. "Resilience thinking: a bibliometric analysis of socio-ecological research," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 96(3), pages 911-927, September.
    11. María del Carmen Calatrava Moreno & Thomas Auzinger & Hannes Werthner, 2016. "On the uncertainty of interdisciplinarity measurements due to incomplete bibliographic data," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 107(1), pages 213-232, April.
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    13. Wenjie Zhang & Hongping Yuan, 2019. "A Bibliometric Analysis of Energy Performance Contracting Research from 2008 to 2018," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(13), pages 1-23, June.
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