In Summer of 2021, the United Nations published an extensive report on the main causes and major implications of climate change. As a response, member states of the UN pushed for an international approach to climate change collaboration as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In support of this, an insights report by ISI provides an overview of climate change research and the evolution in climate change topics. An analysis was conducted with data from Web of Science papers and topics published from 2000-2019.
- Data shows three main topics dominating climate change research: Oceanology, Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences (OMAS), Climate Change, and Forestry.
- Emerging topics of climate change research include: agricultural policy, crop science, economic theory, hospitality, leisure, sport and tourism, political science, and education and educational research, and human geography.
- The outputs were further analyzed and it was observed that the research focus remains regionalistic.
- International collaborations remain a premise as data showed that climate change research has increased to over a third of total global output over the last five years.
- Globally, climate change research is dominated by a productive collaboration with the United States and United Kingdom.
- Deep-diving into collaborations within the three main topics that were identified, data showed dominance of the major economies – United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and China, collaborating with one another.
Conclusively, a looming global crisis calls for stronger international collaborations as envisioned in the 2030 UN Agenda. The growing presence (rather, “emergence”) of emerging topics suggests a growing awareness of social responsibility. Science communication and educational research should remain as focus of climate change research in the next years – a well-informed public drives social change.
Download and read the full report here: https://clarivate.com/lp/climate-change-research-collaboration/
