Asha, P., Research ScholarHydar Ali, Research scholarSelvaraja, A., Guest Faculty

Aquatic Ecology: A scientometric analysis

Department of Studies in Library and Information Science,

University of Mysore, Manasagangotri, Mysore - 570006

Introduction:

Aquatic Science is the multidisciplinary study of aquatic systems,

encompassing both freshwater and marine systems. Scientific

investigations within this field often examine the human impact on and

interaction with aquatic systems and range in scale from the molecular

level of contaminants to the stresses on entire ecosystems The international

quarterly journal Aquatic Ecology has succeeded the `Netherlands Journal

of Aquatic Ecology" from Springer Netherlands. Journal has now most

influential journal in Aquatic Science with an impact factor of 1.41.

Aquatic Ecology publishes peer-reviewed, original papers relating to the

ecology of fresh, brackish, estuarine and marine environments. Papers on

fundamental and applied novel research in both the field and the laboratory

will be included in the journal.

Objectives of the study:

To find out the year, volume and issue wise distribution of articles.

To find out the authorship pattern of the contributions.

To find out the proportion of single v/s multi authored papers.

To find the degree of collaboration in the field of Aquatic Science.

To find out the research productivity count of the contributions on the

basis of geographical distribution.

Methodology:

For the present study “Aquatic Ecology” (2008-20012) has been used as the

source journal. To meet the objectives of the present study the necessary data

were collected by online version of journal through Springer publications via

http://link.springer.com/journal/10452 website. All the required data like

number of authors, number of papers, contributions in each volume,

geographical location of authors at international level were tabulated. The data

was then subjected to analysis as per the objectives of the study. The

authorship pattern has been analysed by using K. Subramaniam’s degree of

collaboration in quantitative terms. All the data were subsequently examined,

observed, analysed and tabulated for making observations.

Scope and Limitations of the Study:

In this study an attempt has been made to analyse the contributions in 20 issues of 5 volumes of the Aquatic Ecology journal during year from 2008 to 2012.

Year wise distribution of articles

Sl. No Year/Vol No of Papers Percentage

1 2008/42 62 19.07

2 2009/43 106 32.61

3 2010/44 67 20.61

4 2011/45 47 14.46

5 2012/46 43 13.23

Total 325 100.00

Volume wise distribution of contributions

Years Vol. No No of issues Contributors Percentage

2008 42 4 246 21.9

2009 43 4 367 32.65

2010 44 4 241 21.44

2011 45 4 147 13.07

2012 46 4 123 10.94

5 Years 5 Vol 20 1124 100.0

Issue wise distribution of contribution

MonthVolume numbers

42(2008) 43(2009) 44(2010) 45(2011) 46(2012)

Jan-Mar 17 17 30 13 11

Apr-June 12 35 12 12 10

July-Sep 15 18 12 11 10

Oct-Dec 18 36 13 11 12

Total 62 106 67 47 43

Authorship pattern of contributions

No of authors No of articles Percentage Cumulative

total

Cumulative

percentage

One 20 6.15 20 6.15

Two 79 24.30 99 30.45

Three 88 27.07 187 57.5

Four 77 23.69 264 81.21

Five 29 8.92 293 90.13

Six and above 32 9.84 325 100.00

Total 325 100.00

Single V/s Multiple authored papers

Year Single authored

Percentage Multiple authored

Percentage Total papers

2008 2 10 60 19.67 62

2009 7 35 99 32.46 106

2010 6 30 61 20 67

2011 2 10 45 14.75 47

2012 3 15 40 13.11 43

Total 20 100 305 100.00 325

Degree of collaboration

Year

Papers Degree of

collaboration

Total no of

articlesSingle

authored

Multiple

authored

2008 2 60 0.97 62

2009 7 99 0.93 106

2010 6 61 0.91 67

2011 2 45 0.96 47

2012 3 40 13.33 43

Total 20 305 0.93 325

Contribution of most prolific authors

Sl. No. Authors No. of Articles  Percentage Total citations

1 Gulati RD 9 2.77 50

2 Degermendzhy AG 7 2.15 38

3 Mooij WM 6 1.85 27

4 Phillips G 5 1.54 137

5 Rogozin DY 5 1.54 17

6 Salonen K 5 1.54 29

7 Solheim AL 5 1.54 100

8 Carvalho L 4 1.23 97

9 Genova SN 4 1.23 28

10 Moe SJ 4 1.23 62

11 Penning WE 4 1.23 82

12 Poikane S 4 1.23 88

Geographical distribution of contribution

Rank Country No. of Articles Share Rank country No. of Articles Share

1 USA 64 19.69 11 Norway 16 4.92

2 Germany 27 8.31 12 Australia 14 4.31

3 China 24 7.38 13 England 13 4.00

4 Netherlands 23 7.08 14 Sweden 13 4.00

5 Finland 22 6.77 15 Brazil 12 3.69

6 Russia 21 6.46 16 India 11 3.38

7 Canada 18 5.54 17 Poland 11 3.38

8 Spain 18 5.54 18 Scotland 10 3.08

9 Italy 17 5.23 19 Argentina 8 2.46

10 Japan 16 4.92 20 Hungary 8 2.46

Findings and Conclusion

The total number of papers published in Aquatic Ecology is 325. In

case of authorship contributions were shows that highest number of papers is

contributed by three authors i.e. 88 (27.07%). Degree of collaboration in 5

years is 0.93. Geographical distribution of contributors shows that maximum

contributions in country wise, the country USA takes the first place with 64

(19.69%) contributions. Gulati RD takes the first rank in the most prolific

authors list by contributing 9 (2.77%) articles.