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Is climate change controversy good for science? IPCC and contrarian reports in the light of bibliometrics

Author

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  • Ferenc Jankó

    (University of Sopron)

  • Judit Papp Vancsó

    (Gyula Roth Technical School of Forestry and Wood Industry)

  • Norbert Móricz

    (Forest Research Institute)

Abstract

Debate and controversy concerning the issue of climate change generally results in the hindering and obstruction of social and governmental action on this issue. This paper analyses the scientific background, i.e. the reference list of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report “The Physical Science Basis” and an alternative climate change report of a US think tank institute “Climate Change Reconsidered II. Physical Science”. We compared these two reports to the antecedent reports from 2007 (IPCC AR4 WGI) and 2009 (Climate Change Reconsidered). For the purposes of the study, we developed a database containing all the references collected from the four reports. The bibliometric analysis focused on the distribution of references among peer reviewed scientific journals and the most frequently cited lead authors that created the basis for the evaluation of their different scientific emphasis. Our findings underline that there is still no convergence between the scientific literature of the IPCC and the contrarian reports; however, the remarkable quantitative development on both sides and the qualitative progress of the IPCC report allows us to draw somewhat surprising conclusions in the context of climate change science. Contrary to expectations, controversy is beneficial to the science of climate change as it fosters the review process on both sides of the debate.

Suggested Citation

  • Ferenc Jankó & Judit Papp Vancsó & Norbert Móricz, 2017. "Is climate change controversy good for science? IPCC and contrarian reports in the light of bibliometrics," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 112(3), pages 1745-1759, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:112:y:2017:i:3:d:10.1007_s11192-017-2440-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-017-2440-9
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Werner Marx & Robin Haunschild & Andreas Thor & Lutz Bornmann, 2017. "Which early works are cited most frequently in climate change research literature? A bibliometric approach based on Reference Publication Year Spectroscopy," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 110(1), pages 335-353, January.
    2. Andreas Bjurström & Merritt Polk, 2011. "Physical and economic bias in climate change research: a scientometric study of IPCC Third Assessment Report," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 108(1), pages 1-22, September.
    3. Srdan Medimorec & Gordon Pennycook, 2015. "The language of denial: text analysis reveals differences in language use between climate change proponents and skeptics," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 133(4), pages 597-605, December.
    4. Andreas Bjurström & Merritt Polk, 2011. "Climate change and interdisciplinarity: a co-citation analysis of IPCC Third Assessment Report," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 87(3), pages 525-550, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Hui-Zhen Fu & Ludo Waltman, 2022. "A large-scale bibliometric analysis of global climate change research between 2001 and 2018," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 170(3), pages 1-21, February.

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