Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 1.2
Numbers of research articles responding to query terms for different types of stress.
(Data source: Web of
Science, Thomson Innovation 2011)
Temperature
stress
Abiotic
stress
Temperature stress
5,622
* 1,833 1,131 890 664
Water stress
4,749
* 2,043 746 716
Salinity stress
3,578
* 640 644
Oxidative stress
2,813
* 375
Abiotic stress
1,654
*
* Number of articles responding to each set of query terms alone lie along the diagonal
Water stress
Salinity stress Oxidative
stress
Private
Public-Private
Public
Unknown
1600
600
A Research articles
B Patent families
1400
400
1200
200
1000
0
600
800
C Field trials
400
600
200
400
0
200
20
D Regulatory submissions
0
0
Fig. 1.2
The dynamics of the drought and stress tolerance R&D pipeline
Growth in the publication of scientific articles has been rapid, expanding expo-
nentially from about 400 articles a year in the late 1990s to about 1400 articles a
year by 2010 (Fig.
1.2a
). This rate of increase reflects the significant investments
made, primarily by governments, in research on drought and stress tolerance over
the last decade (likely more than $ 1 billion according to Lybbert and Bell
2010
).
This research publication activity has been almost entirely done by authors at public
sector research institutions. Authors at private institutions are found in less than five
per cent of research articles in any year (Fig.
1.2a
).
The research effort in the biology of plant stress—and its growth—has not
been limited to any one country or part of the world, but is markedly international
(Fig.
1.3
). In the early 1990s, the United States was the leading locus of research,
and while publications from US-based authors have continued to grow steadily,
they have been eclipsed by publications from other regions in both growth rate and
absolute numbers. Europe emerged by the mid-1990s as the leading region, but the
output of publications from other developed countries has grown at least as quickly,
especially in recent years. Yet, by far the most remarkable growth has been in China
and other developing countries, and largely since 2000. By 2010, for example the
