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Commissioned by the Waddenacademie, Dialogic mapped out the knowledge landscape of the Wadden Sea region and the role played by the Waddenacademie. This research involved interviews with scientific researchers regarding the role of the Waddenacademie, along with a bibliometric analysis of publications from 2008 to 2018.
For the bibliometric analysis, scientific databases Web of Science, Science Direct, and Scopus, as well as meta-search engines Microsoft Academic and Google Scholar, were searched for literature related to the Wadden Sea region. Since this study encompassed various disciplines with different publication practices (journals, books, grey literature) and topics, a portion of the results were manually assessed for relevance to the Wadden Sea region and themes. Subsequently, the remaining results were classified using a machine learning algorithm.
Distinguishing between research directly related to the Dutch, German, and Danish Wadden Sea regions, research relevant to the Wadden Sea but conducted elsewhere, and research thematically fitting the Wadden Sea but without a specific location (e.g. lab research or computer simulations), most found publications were directly related to the Wadden Sea. Furthermore, we observed a slight increase in the number of publications between 2008-2018.
Regarding the themes, publications were classified according to the four themes of the Trilateral Knowledge Agenda, namely:
- Theme 1: Climate, water, sediments, and subsurface
- Theme 2: Ecology, biodiversity, and spatial processes
- Theme 3: Cultural heritage, identity, and historical embedding
- Theme 4: Economy, society, and sustainable development
We found that the knowledge landscape is well organised for the first two themes and can be easily accessed and analysed through scientific databases. However, the knowledge landscape for themes 3 and 4 is less covered by scientific databases, often in Dutch, German, or Danish (as opposed to English for the first two themes), and in forms other than scientific journals. As a result, this research is more fragmented, further complicating the automatic classification of results.
Based on the bibliometric research and interviews with scientific researchers, we have formulated several conclusions and recommendations regarding the role and position of the Waddenacademie. We have found that the Waddenacademie adds significant value in bringing together and strengthening scientific research on the Wadden Sea. Additionally, there are areas of attention for the coming years, such as the relationship between science and policy and management issues, or establishing a Wadden Library with metadata on Wadden publications.
Download the full report here.
Want to learn more? Contact Pieter Jan de Boer or Max Kemman.