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On behalf of the Waddenacademie, Dialogic has mapped out the knowledge landscape of the Wadden Sea area and the role that the Waddenacademie plays in it. This research involved interviews with scientific researchers about the role of the Waddenacademie and a bibliometric analysis of publications from 2008 to 2018.
For the bibliometric analysis, scientific databases such as Web of Science, Science Direct, and Scopus, as well as meta-search engines like Microsoft Academic and Google Scholar, were searched for literature related to the Wadden Sea area. Due to the various disciplines involved with different publication practices (journals, books, grey literature) and topics, a portion of the results was manually reviewed for relevance to the Wadden Sea area and themes. Subsequently, the remaining results were classified using a machine learning algorithm.
Distinctions were made between research directly related to the Dutch, German, and Danish Wadden Sea areas, research relevant to the Wadden Sea but conducted elsewhere, and research thematically related to the Wadden Sea but without a specific location (e.g. lab research or computer simulations). In terms of relevance, most of the identified publications were directly related to the Wadden Sea. Additionally, we observed a slight increase in the number of publications from 2008 to 2018.
Regarding themes, publications were classified according to the four themes of the Trilateral Knowledge Agenda, namely:
- Theme 1: Climate, water, sediments, and subsoil
- Theme 2: Ecology, biodiversity, and spatial processes
- Theme 3: Cultural heritage, identity, and historical context
- Theme 4: Economy, society, and sustainable development
We found that the knowledge landscape, particularly concerning the first two themes, is well organized, easily searchable, and analysable using scientific databases. However, the knowledge landscape of themes 3 and 4 is less adequately covered by scientific databases, often in Dutch, German, or Danish (unlike the English content of the first two themes), and in forms other than scientific journals. Consequently, 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. It is evident that the Waddenacademie adds significant value in bringing together and strengthening scientific research on the Wadden Sea. Moving forward, there are some focal points to consider, such as the relationship between science and policy and management issues, or the establishment of a Wadden library with metadata on Wadden-related publications.
Download the full report here.
