Mapping the structuration of topical communities in Agroforestry research. A scientometric overview
Résumé
Despite the long research history of Agroforestry, few papers have analyzed the overall pattern of its knowledge development (Nair, 1996; Montambault & Alavalapati, 2005; Barisaux, 2017). In this communication, we analyze the development of this scientific domain since its appearance in the Web of Science database (1979). We first build a comprehensive lexical query on forms of agroforestry. This generates a corpus of 11902 records from 1979 to 2018. Then, we apply scientometric analysis to highlight the overall dynamic of scientific communities, specialties and research fronts. We found that agroforestry first follows an irregular dynamic, with a steady growth since 2005 (fig below). Characterizing the main actors at various scale, we show that collaborations follow a densification pattern since the 1990s resulting in an increasingly cohesive international research community. Then, we focus on the topics, characterized by a diversification pattern. To pinpoint major trends of agroforestry, we then analyze the structuration of topics by discriminating them according to their centrality/marginality and also to their dynamic (hot or cold trends). Through this mapping, and beyond descriptive statements, we also discuss the issue of links between science, society and policy. We particularly focus on the evolution of studies about economic and institutional determinants of diffusion and adoption and more recently on transition studies toward agroforestry.