Selective world-building

Author(s)
Petro Tolochko, Alice Vadrot
Abstract

Over the past two decades, the scientific study of marine biodiversity developed into one of the most dynamic research fields within environmental research in general and ocean science in particular. Marine biodiversity research spans a broad range of spatial and temporal scales, scientific disciplines, and infrastructures for assessing patterns of change in marine biodiversity with different topics and regions contributing to the abstract construction of the field. Yet, beneath the surface of these abstract constructions and attributions such as “big science” to assess the international, interdisciplinary and data-driven nature marine biodiversity research, patterns of scientific collaboration emerge that shape the contributions of different world regions to the field. Furthermore, legal, political and territorial orders shape scientific collaboration by determining access to the marine environment and the study thereof. To understand these dynamics, this study analyses scientific publications on marine biodiversity using topic modeling methodology. Our approach provides the opportunity not only to describe large clusters within the field of marine biodiversity, but also to show how these topical clusters differ in time and across regions. By looking at the temporal and regional level, we wish to contribute to a deeper understanding of collaboration and regional specificity in the emergence of new research fields and – what we call – “selective world-building” across time and space.

Organisation(s)
Department of Political Science, Department of Communication
Journal
Environmental Science & Policy
Volume
126
Pages
79-89
No. of pages
11
ISSN
1462-9011
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2021.09.003
Publication date
12-2021
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
506007 International relations
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Geography, Planning and Development, Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
Sustainable Development Goals
SDG 14 - Life Below Water
Portal url
https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/selective-worldbuilding(dcefbb45-ad1f-4a7d-87a5-a13784e4eb17).html