A Restricted View over a 10-year Research Trend of International Science Communication
——Analysis based on science communication during 2008 and 2017

Yue Mengmeng

Department of Science and Technology Communication and Policy, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China

Abstract: We analyze 354 papers published from 2008 to 2017 in the international authoritative journal Science Communication in this study. The temporal and spatial distribution, author and coauthors, affiliation, citations and keywords are analyzed in details. The application of diagnostic tool VOSviewer reveals the research hotspots and evolution trend in the field of science communication. That is, in the past ten years, international science communication research has experienced from the framework of news reports, traditional media, scientific literacy, biotechnology and other traditional issues, to new topics such as science communication from the perspective of new media, visual communication, the forefront science and the public, risk in new technology, etc., which are becoming new hotspots in the international research field of science communication in recent years.

Keywords: Science Communication; VOSviewer;Bibliometrics; Hotspot; Research Trend

1. Introduction

As a branch of communication, science communication has the characteristics of multidisciplinary intersection, and it has been received more and more attention in the increasingly development of science and technology. Since the 1980s, research on science communication has gradually started in China, and for a long time, it has attracted more attention from scholars of science and technology history and philosophy of science and technology. Although scholars in the field of traditional journalism and communication, as well as natural sciences, STS (science and technology and society), and sociology of science have turned their attention to science communication. But on the whole, domestic cohesion to scientific communication research is low. The research results are scattered in the journalism communication science, the history of science and technology, science and technology philosophy, scientific sociology, public relations and other Chinese journals, and the voices in the field of international science and technology communication are extremely weak. Therefore, paying attention to the research status in international high-level journals has a positive reference for the scientific communication research of domestic scholars.

International journals with high influence in the field of scientific communication include Science Communication (SC), Public Understanding of Science (PUS), Journal of Science Communication (JCOM), etc. Science Communication is a leading journal of scientific communication research with a high international perspective, which is the dissemination of science and technology in the public and the diffusion of scientific knowledge. SC and PUS are the only two SSCI journals in the field of science and technology communication. In the past, some scholars in China have focused their attention on PUS, but few people pay attention to SC, which is also a world-class journal. The predecessor of SC was created in 1979 by Knowledge: Creation, Diffusion, Utilization, and in 1994 its name was changed to Science Communication. So far, there have been no papers published in the journal as the first author of the Chinese mainland. The two academic journals, Science Popularization and Science and Technology Communication, which are closely related to scientific communication sponsored by Chinese institutions, have not yet been included in CSSCI source journals. Among them, the purpose of Science and Technology Communication is to ‘improve the ability of the country to spread science and technology and serve the social and economic development’. It is issued 24 times a year, focusing on the content of technology application. The bi-monthly Science Popularization published by the China Science Research Institute covers the fields of science and technology communication, science education, science exhibition, science and culture. The purpose of this journal is to promote the study of theory of science popularization and promote the development of science popularization. And it has played an important role in leading China’s science popularization study.

In the 1930s, science communication attracted attention in the international arena. Bernard first mentioned the term science communication in Social Function of Science. In recent years, the role of science and technology in the development of human society has become increasingly prominent. The focus on scientific communication issues has generally increased. Science communication is the link between science and social relations. TW Burns defines science communication as ‘using appropriate methods, media, activities, and dialogue to trigger one or more reactions of individuals to science, including consciousness, pleasure, and interest., opinion formation and understanding’[1]. Nowadays, more scholars agree that science communication is ‘the process of knowledge sharing between different individuals through the spread of scientific and technological knowledge information across time and space’[2]. Scientific communication covers a wide range of subjects and has interdisciplinary research attributes, including communication, psychology, sociology, and philosophy. In the study of the concept of scientific communication, Bernard mentioned‘the whole issue of scientific communication, not only including the exchange of questions between scientists, but also including the issue of communication with the public’[3]. Wu Guosheng said that science communication is a new form emerged from the public understanding of science, and it is a continuation and expansion of the previous stage[4]. The analysis of these concepts reflects the continuous evolution of the connotation and extension of scientific communication in the development process, and the research content of the corresponding scientific communication field may change accordingly. Chen Fajun[5], Zhang Ting[6], Zhou Yanqi[7], Qi Jianxun[8], Zhu Qiaoyan[9] and other scholars have carried out bibliometric analysis of PUS or SC from different aspects, of which PUS literature analysis is relatively new and the literature analysis of SC was mainly before 2013. In addition, comparing domestic and foreign research literature, it is not difficult to find that domestic research generally lacks international perspective, and empirical research is relatively weak. The problems of scientific communication are mostly limited to the Chinese issues and the Chinese perspective, and have not yet entered the international mainstream discourse system. Therefore, the innovation of this article is to keep track of the latest data of SC. Through VOSviewer’s topic clustering and time series analysis of keywords in the last ten years, we try to reveal the latest changes and trends of research topics in SC, and provide international reference for domestic science and technology communication research. While actively paying attention to the international research trends of science communication, it is of positive significance for domestic scholars to understand the international science communication discourse system and as soon as possible and realize the leap-forward improvement of research.

2. Research Methods

In order to describe the development trend of scientific communication, the research uses SC bibliography as the object, and uses the bibliometric method to conduct statistical analysis on the journal articles published in the field of scientific communication. According to the Journal Citation Reports (JCR), the impact factor of SC has been on the rise since 2008, and the impact factor in 2017 is 2.032. It ranks 19/84 in SSCI’s communications category and has been in Q1 for many years.

Therefore, the analysis of SC is highly representative in the field of scientific communication.

In terms of data acquisition, this paper uses the core database of Web of Science (hereinafter referred to as WOS) under the Thomson Reuters Group to obtain data. The time span is set from 2008 to 2017, and the publication name is searched by Science Communication. As a result, 354 articles were retrieved. Based on this, we use the bibliometric method to quantitatively analyze 354 articles from the aspects of spatial distribution, publishing institutions, author background, highly cited papers, keywords, and research hotspots.

At the same time, the VOSviewer software is used to process the data to describe the research hotspots and future evolution directions of the international field of scientific communication.VOSviewer is a free bibliometric analysis software developed by Nees Janvan Eck and Ludo Waltman of Leiden University in the Netherlands in 2009. It is used to achieve co-occurrence analysis in various fields[10], and has been used by many scholars in literature analysis research. The software has four display modes:label view, density view, cluster view and scatter view. Compared with other similar software, the visualization effect is more prominent, and the analysis function is more diverse.

3. Basic Literature Measurement Analysis

Science Communication published 354 articles in 2008–2017, an increase of 127 from 1998 to 2007. Among them, the number of articles issued in 2008–2011 was basically kept at about 30 articles per year. After 2012, it was changed from quarterly to bi-monthly, and the Commentary section was added. The number of articles was increased to about 40 per year. At the same time, the analysis shows that SC’s papers show an increasing trend of collaborative research. Among them, 254 original research articles (article)cohesion rate was as high as 72.05%.

1) Literature Spatial Distribution Analysis

Through the statistics of the sources of the SC ten-year literature (all classified according to the country of the first author), 354 articles were found from 44 countries, followed by the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Germany. However, the global distribution of articles on scientific communication research is extremely uneven, and there is a phenomenon described by Pareto’s law that 20% of countries/regions publish 80% of papers[11]. Figure 1 clearly shows that North American countries and European countries have a higher say in the study of scientific communication. The United States has a maximum of 180 articles (50.85%), followed by 33 in the UK (9.32%).), 19 in the Netherlands (5.37%) and Germany (4.8%).

In the past ten years, China has only published six articles (1.69%), including one from the mainland, Hong Kong and Macao, three from Taiwan, and the first authors of six articles are from Cornell University and The Chinese University of Hong Kong, School of Science, Technology and Humanities, University of Macau, I-Shou University, Chengchi University, Taiwan Normal University Science Education Center. Only one paper in mainland China was published entitled Encountered but Not Engaged:Examining the Use of Social Media for Science Communication by Chinese Scientists. The first author is Dr. Jia Hepeng, a PhD candidate at Cornell University. The author was included in Sun Yat-sen University in the second unit. China’s mainland region is in a weak position compared with developed countries in the field of international scientific communication, and has not yet issued a clear voice in the field of international science and technology communication.

By counting the organizations of the authors of 354 articles, these articles were found in 323 institutions, including 123 in the United States(38.08%), 31 in the United Kingdom (9.60%), 16 in Spain (4.95%), and 15 in Germany(4.64%) (Table 1).

The number of papers published by the top ten institutions of international scientific communication research accounted for 26.6% of the total number of papers issued in 10 years, and 9 of them were American institutions. It shows that the United States has accumulated strong scientific research strength after years of research in science communication. Of course, one important factor is that the magazine is sponsored by the United States. At the same time, 268 institutions in 323 institutions are universities and colleges, and the rest are science centers, museums, foundations, scientific research institutions, etc. It can be seen that scholars from universities and colleges have played a pivotal role in scientific communication research. At the same time, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and other countries with a large number of papers, as well as the University of Wisconsin, Cornell University, George Mason University, etc., may still make a huge contribution to the field of science communication for a long time to come.

2) Analysis of Highly Cited Papers and Highyield Authors

Being quoted by other articles can be used as one of the indicators to measure the quality of an article. Highly cited articles can highlight the development level and research direction of science communication, and are important evidence for exploring the hot topics and research frontiers of international scientific communication research. The papers of the top ten SCs cited in the past ten years are as follows(Table 2).

Published in 2009, ‘Fear Won’t Do It’ Promoting Positive Engagement With Climate Change Through Visual and Iconic Representations, as the most cited article, was cited 249 times by the end of 2017. The article through empirical research proves that although fear appeal has the potential to attract public attention to climate change issues, it does not motivate individuals to truly participate. Conversely, non-threatening visual and symbolic expressions that are closely related to people’s daily emotions and concerns often increase public awareness of climate change issues. With the emergence of climate change issues, the Copenhagen World Climate Conference was held in 2009, and many countries discussed global emission reduction issues. The number of publications on climate change in SC was as high as seven in 2009 and the most frequently cited article in the decade is also the issue of climate change. This reflects that important social issues have led to academic research in related fields, and research that reflects major social issues is likely to become a hot spot of concern.

633 authors (including the second and third authors) published in 354 articles from 2008 to 2017, and 11 of them published four papers(Table 3). The authors published 3 and 2 articles respectively, with 14 and 58 respectively, and 550 authors who have published only one paper.

Professor Susanna Priest, who has published 16 articles, is the current editor-in-chief of SC. She has been transferred to the Department of Journalism and Communication at Washington University, University of Nevada, and George Mason University. Her main direction is communication, and her research focuses on the role of science in American society and culture, such as mass media coverage of science, science policy, and public opinion. Professor JoAnn M. Valenti from the School of Communication at Brigham Young University in the United States has published as many as 12 papers. Her main research direction is journalism and communication. She is not only a member of the editorial board of the SC journal but also a member and council representative of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. John C. Besley has seven papers and as an associate professor at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of South Carolina. His research interests include science communication and public participation in science. According to statistics, the authors with the highest rankings are all from the United States, which is consistent with the situation that the number of US publications is the highest in the decade. It indicates that the United States has occupied an important position in the field of international science communication. It is worth noting that the analysis of the authors in Table 3 shows that most of the international high-yield scholars in the field of science communication are the main force of the journalism and communication departments, which is in stark contrast with the distribution of scholars of science communication in China. According to the statistical analysis of scholars in the past, most of the authors of the most prolific and cited scientific communication papers in China are from the history of science and technology and philosophy of science and technology. This phenomenon remains the same today. And its research is based on concepts and texts, and less empirical research methods are used.[12] This shows that there is a big difference between the scientific communication research in China and the international research in the same field in terms of talent reserve and research status.

The above analysis of the SC article from 2008 to 2017 found that the United States and the United Kingdom and European countries have absolute advantages, which leads to the extremely uneven distribution of international scientific communication paper sources. The background of the authors is diverse and the institution is university-led. Journalism and communication related Majors are the main force in scientific communication research.

4. Science Communication Research Hotspot Map Analysis

1) Keyword Analysis

The key word is the product of the author’s concise article theme, which is a high-level summary of the core of the full text. Through keyword search for articles published in SC for ten years, vocabulary with weaker relevance to scientific communication is removed, and synonyms are combined (such as climate change and climate changes, mass media and massmedia, risk and risks, etc.), the main keywords are shown in Fig. 2 word cloud. We counted the keywords with frequency more than 30 times. The highest frequency is communication 354 times, which can be an important label in the field of science communication. The other keywords are science 102 times, public engagement 69 times, climate change 61 times, Knowledge 51 times, mass media 48 times, media 42 times, information 42 times, news 38 times, science communication 36 times, risk 34 times, perception 31 times, attitudes 30 times. The higher frequency keywords indicate that the research direction has received more attention. The new and old keywords alternately highlight the changes in the research interests of scholars in the field of international science communication.

2) Research hot knowledge map

Key words co-occurrence can reflect the close relationship between words. Based on VOSviewer software, the distribution of all keywords in the SC article in 2008–2017 is counted, and the hotspot map of international scientific communication field is drawn to reveal the hot research topic and evolution trend.

First, collect SC keyword data from 2008 to 2017 from WOS. The format is a txt format recognizable by VOSviewer, and the analysis range and threshold are set and imported into the software. The weight of the element determines the size of the label and the font. The larger the weight, the larger the label and font, and the more important it is in the field. At the same time, the element spacing can also reflect the relationship; the closer the relationship between elements, the shorter the distance between them, and vice versa. It can be seen from Fig. 3 that the degree of polymerization of the elements is more dispersed. This shows that scientific communication research has a wide range of fields and a large interdisciplinary relationship. Different colors represent different themes, and circles with the same color belong to the same cluster. The collection of different elements in Fig. 3 forms a total of seven clusters, which are classified into five themes by analyzing the keywords. We will mark them as A, B, C, D, E. These five themes are the media impact on public understanding science (theme A), the analysis of news content (theme B), the study of public cognition and attitude (theme C), the study of climate change and risk (theme D), and the study of visual communication(topic E). Finally, a research hotspot knowledge map in the field of science communication will be generated, as shown in Fig. 3.

High-frequency keywords can reflect the hot spots in the field of science communication. But some low-frequency keywords may contain innovations in research. According to the density view generated by VOSviewer (Fig. 4), the closer the color of the element is to red, the closer the study time is, and the closer the color is to blue, the farther the study time is. But as time goes on, the related research interests have also changed.

Theme A focuses on the relationship between the media and the public understanding of science. So the frequency of keywords such as mass media, television, and mass communication theory is generally higher. The frequency of science is up to 102 times, and other keywords are distributed around it, mainly including mass media (48 times), public understanding science(16 times), television (12 times), and influence(11 times). From Figure 4, it can be found that the media’s depiction of science and the scientists in the eyes of the public are emerging topics, and quantitative research has gradually attracted the attention of the academic community. It broke the previous situation of scientific communication research based on critical reflection.

Theme B is the content analysis of news reports. The most frequently used keywords are communication (354 times). Other key keywords include news (38 times), framework (29 times), news reports (22 times), and journalism (18 times). In the ten-year sample, framework theory has been used more frequently. The news media used the cost-benefit framework, risk framework, political framework, and contradictory framework when reporting on specific events. Related articles include Finding a News Media Framework on Science and Technology Progress, Risk, and Regulatory Stories (cited 33 times), The Science and News Framework Beliefs for Audience Evaluation of Embryo and Adult Stem Cell Research (cited 16 times). It can be seen from the density view in Fig. 4 that social new media is a hot topic of recent research. Nowadays, the scientific communication research about we media and social media is prevalent at home and abroad, and how to continue to play the role of science communication in the new media environment has received much attention.

Theme C is a public cognition attitude study. The frequency of key word public participation is 69 times. Other keywords are risk (34 times), nanotechnology (26 times), biotechnology(22 times), controversy (14 times), and the public opinion (11 times) and so on. Science communication has undergone three stages of development. The status of the public has been greatly enhanced, and public attitudes and prejudices have received attention. In the past, scientific communication was dominated by scientists, but now it has become to a multidirectional interaction between communicators, scientific information producers and audiences. At the same time, with the issue of scientific communication following the trend of scientific development, research focuses on cutting-edge technologies such as nanotechnology, transgenic technology, stem cell research, etc. How the public understands that emerging science and technology profoundly affects the relationship between science and society has inspired research enthusiasm for attracting public participation in the topic of scientific communication.

Theme D is climate change and risk research. The frequency of keyword knowledge is 51. The remaining keywords are climate change(61 times), attitude (30 times), crisis spread (21 times), and global warming (4 times). With the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Conference and the 2014 UNEP UN Climate Conference in South Africa, research on climate change has intensified, and the number of related papers has increased in 2009 and 2014 respectively.

Theme E is a visual communication study. It has only six elements and is the least of all clusters. The frequency is in turn for scientific communication (36 times), visual communication (6 times), and images (5 times). The most frequently cited article in the SC in ten years describes the role of visual expression of images and symbols in increasing public participation in climate change issues. According to the search for WOS, there are 22 papers on images in the ten-year sample, and 15 papers on visual communication. And in the density view, it can be seen that the color of the two elements of image and visual communication tend to be red. It indicate that it is a hot topic.

The analysis of the hotspots of international scientific communication research shows that scientific communication research has gradually changed from the traditional framework of news reporting, the public debate on biotechnology, the impact of television on public cognition science, gender and scientific literacy to the scientific communication research under the new media perspective, scientific communication research that appeals to vision, promotion of public participation in cutting-edge scientific and technological issues, and research on risk communication etc.

5. Conclusion

Since its start publication in 1979, SC has become the top journal in the field of international scientific communication, which embodies the most influential research results in the field of science and technology communication. Science communication is concerned with the mutual influence of science and society. Although China has many outstanding scientific and technological achievements in recent years, there is still a big gap in China’s scientific communication research from the international level. Through the combing of the development trend of the SC in the past ten years, it also reflects that if we want to break the barrier between science and the public, and make the field of scientific communication research into the international mainstream, we still have a long way to go.

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