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A bibliometric analysis of research on Antarctica during 1993–2012

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Abstract

A bibliometric analysis was applied in this work to evaluate Antarctic research from 1993 to 2012 based on the Science Citation Index database. According to samples of 30,024 articles related to Antarctica, this study reveals the evolution of the scientific outputs on Antarctic research from the aspects of subject categories, major journals, international collaboration, and temporal trends in keywords focus. Antarctic research has developed rapidly in the past two decades, with an increasing amount of article output, references and citations. Geosciences multidisciplinary, oceanography, ecology, meteorology and atmospheric sciences and geography physical were the most popular subject categories. Among the 20 major journals related to Antarctic research, Polar Biology, Geophysical Research Letters and Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres ranked as the top three. With the largest quantity of articles and high citations, USA was the leading contributor to global Antarctic research and had a dominant position in collaborative networks. In addition, a keywords analysis determined that climate change, sea ice and krill were the topics that generated the most interest and concern. Because this paper reveals underlying patterns in scientific outputs, research subjects and academic collaboration, it may serve as a summary of global research history on Antarctica and a potential basis for future research.

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Acknowledgments

This work was partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No: 41301463), Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education (No: 20130141120009) and the Fund of Key Laboratory of Global Change and Marine-Atmospheric Chemistry, SOA, (GCMAC1305). The authors are thankful to Prof. Liqi Chen (Chinese Arctic and Antarctic Administration), Prof. Zeming Wang (Chinese Antarctic Center of Surveying and Mapping, Wuhan University, China) and Mr. Bolin Fu (Graduate University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, China) for their assistance and discussions. Comments from the anonymous referees and the editor are also gratefully appreciated.

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  1. Chinese Antarctic Center of Surveying and Mapping, Wuhan University, 129 Luoyu Road, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China

    Qing Ji, Xiaoping Pang & Xi Zhao

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  1. Qing Ji
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  2. Xiaoping Pang
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  3. Xi Zhao
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Correspondence to Xi Zhao.

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Ji, Q., Pang, X. & Zhao, X. A bibliometric analysis of research on Antarctica during 1993–2012. Scientometrics 101, 1925–1939 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-014-1332-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-014-1332-5

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