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11.6 % of the research outputs and 3.3 % of the meta-data produced by ILTER sites
(C and D; Table
13.2
).
Incorporating the geographical origin of ILTER researchers reveals a similar pat-
tern: the North Temperate region (Zone B) concentrates most published outputs
overall. Published outputs excluding meta-data (Fig.
13.3
), and meta-data (Fig.
13.4
)
also show that authors of research outputs and meta-data in all regions write primar-
ily about their own zone. Noticeably, most of the outputs concerning research on the
equatorial zones are produced by researchers residing in Zones B and D (
North and
South Temperate
).
No meta-data contributions came from Zone A (
Arctic
), and all meta-data con-
cerning Zone F (
Antarctic
) were published by Zone B (
North Temperate
) (Fig.
13.4
).
A high number of items originating from Zones C and D were not codeable with
respect to their subject zones since their titles did not clearly specify place-names
(e.g., “census”, “development”). Place-names that occurred a small number of times
(<5) are not included.
8
These place-names can be interpreted in the LTER context to
mean that there are ILTER sites about which there are not yet coherent bodies of
published research.
13.2.3
Which Thematic Areas Do ILTER Researchers Study?
This section examines the geographic distribution in terms of LTER research topics:
What are the thematic contrasts among regions? To answer this question, the data
source is the same as in Sect.
13.2.2
, and the thematic concepts were classifi ed into
eight categories (Table
13.3
). The classifi cations refl ect major themes of the ILTER
Strategic Plan (ILTER Network
2006
) and stewardship themes.
For each of the categories of research concept, researchers from LTER networks
in the North Temperate region (Zone B) generated more than 75 % of the total pub-
lications (Fig.
13.5
). For all categories, researchers from LTER networks in the
Southern Hemisphere have generated approximately 10 % of the publications,
8
Regarding our methodology it is important to note that the lack of detailed coding of infrequent
place-names is not detrimental to the scale of analysis conducted with this method because of its
low numbers. In Figs.
13.3
and
13.4
, and Table
13.2
each article title may contain more than one
place-name, and some place-names may represent more than one geographical location (e.g., the
municipality of China in the Mexican state of Nuevo León, the People's Republic of China, and the
Republic of China, etc.). Figure
13.3
counts the number of relationships between research net-
works (known from their network homes) and the geographic zone investigated (inferred from
place-names in article/data titles). Table
13.2
counts the number of times an identifying place-
name occurs in each of the zones in articles and data. The number of research outputs/meta-data
reported for a zone in Table
13.3
is equal to or lower than the sum of the number of articles/meta-
data where that zone is the right side of Fig.
13.3
. Table
13.2
counts a small number of research
outputs/meta-data not counted in Fig.
13.3
, namely those having an uncoded researcher origin
Zone due to inadequate meta-data. Finally, it is also important to note that titles of meta-data con-
tained more N-grams about methods and theoretical approaches than did titles of publications.
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