Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T08:07:59.387Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Dynamics of a Global Zoonotic Research Network Over 33 Years (1980–2012)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 July 2015

Liaquat Hossain Open the ORCID record for Liaquat Hossain [Opens in a new window] ,
Faezeh Karimi  and
Rolf T. Wigand
Liaquat Hossain*
Affiliation:
Division of Information and Technology Studies, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
Faezeh Karimi
Affiliation:
Complex Systems Research and Project Management Program, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technologies, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Rolf T. Wigand
Affiliation:
Department of Information Science, University of Arkansas, Little Rock, Arkansas
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to Liaquat Hossain, PhD, Division of Information and Technology Studies, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong (e-mail: [email protected]).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Objective

The increasing rate of outbreaks in humans of zoonotic diseases requires detailed examination of the education, research, and practice of animal health and its connection to human health. This study investigated the collaboration network of different fields engaged in conducting zoonotic research from a transdisciplinary perspective.

Methods

Examination of the dynamics of this network for a 33-year period from 1980 to 2012 is presented through the development of a large scientometric database from Scopus. In our analyses we compared several properties of these networks, including density, clustering coefficient, giant component, and centrality measures over time. We also elicited patterns in different fields of study collaborating with various other fields for zoonotic research.

Results

We discovered that the strongest collaborations across disciplines are formed among the fields of medicine; biochemistry, genetics, and molecular biology; immunology and microbiology; veterinary; agricultural and biological sciences; and social sciences. Furthermore, the affiliation network is growing overall in terms of collaborative research among different fields of study such that more than two-thirds of all possible collaboration links among disciplines have already been formed.

Conclusions

Our findings indicate that zoonotic research scientists in different fields (human or animal health, social science, earth and environmental sciences, engineering) have been actively collaborating with each other over the past 11 years. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2015;9:496–503)

Keywords

animal diseasescapacity buildingcivil defensecommunicationeducationpublic health professional
Type
Original Research
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 9 , Issue 5 , October 2015 , pp. 496 - 503
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. WHO. Joint WHO/FAO expert committee on zoonoses. World Health Organ Tech Rep Ser . 1959;58(169):1-84.Google Scholar
2. Taylor, LH, Latham, SM. Woolhouse MEJ. Risk factors for human disease emergence. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2001;356:983-989.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3. WHO. Zoonoses and the human-animal-ecosystems interface. http://www.who.int/zoonoses/en/. Accessed November 26, 2013.Google Scholar
4. Patra, SK, Chand, P.. HIV/AIDS research in India: a bibliometric study. Libr Inf Sci Res. 2007;29:124-134.Google Scholar
5. Uthman, OA. HIV/AIDS in Nigeria: a bibliometric analysis. BMC Infect Dis . 2008;8:19. doi: 10.1186/1471-2334-8-19.Google Scholar
6. Ramos, JM, Padilla, S, Masia, M, et al. A bibliometric analysis of tuberculosis research indexed in PubMed, 1997-2006. Int J Tuberc Lung Dis. 2008;12:1461-1468.Google Scholar
7. Garg, KC, Kumar, S, Madhavi, Y, et al. Bibliometrics of global malaria vaccine research. Health Info Libr J. 2009;26:22-31.Google Scholar
8. Bliziotis, IA, Paraschakis, K, Vergidis, PI, et al. Worldwide trends in quantity and quality of published articles in the field of infectious diseases. BMC Infect Dis. 2005;5:16.Google Scholar
9. Ramos, JM, Gutierrez, F, Masia, M, et al. Publication of European Union research on infectious diseases (1991-2001): a bibliometric evaluation. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis.. 2004;23:180-184.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
10. Ramos, JM, Masia, M, Padilla, S, et al. A bibliometric overview of infectious diseases research in European countries (2002-2007). Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis. 2009;28:713-716.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
11. Takahashi-Omoe, H, Omoe, K. Worldwide trends in infectious disease research revealed by a new bibliometric method. In Roy PK, ed. Insight and Control of Infectious Disease in Global Scenario [open access]. Published 2012. http://www.intechopen.com/books/insight-and-control-of-infectious-disease-in-global-scenario. Accessed June 15, 2015.Google Scholar
12. Abbasi, A, Hossain, L. Investigating attachment behavior of nodes during evolution of a complex social network: a case of a scientific collaboration network. Knowledge-Based and Intelligent Information and Engineering Systems, Pt Ii. 2011;6882:256-264.Google Scholar
13. Abbasi, A, Hossain, L, Uddin, S, et al. Evolutionary dynamics of scientific collaboration networks: multi-levels and cross-time analysis. Scientometrics. 2011;89:687-710.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
14. Romo-Fernấndez, L, Guerrero-Bote, V, Moya-Anegốn, F. Co-word based thematic analysis of renewable energy (1990–2010). Scientometrics. 2013;97:743-765.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15. Universities and Colleges Admissions Services and Higher Education Statistics Agency. Joint Academic Coding System (JACS) version 3.0. http://www.hesa.ac.uk/content/view/1776/649/. Accessed November 26, 2013.Google Scholar
16. Scott, J. Social Network Analysis: A Handbook. Santa Barbara, CA: Sage Publications; 2000.Google Scholar
17. Freeman, LC. Centrality in social networks conceptual clarification. Social Networks.. 1979;1:215-239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
18. Borgatti, SP. Centrality and network flow. Social Networks. 2005;27:55-71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
19. Easley, D, Kleinberg, J. Networks, Crowds, and Markets: Reasoning About a Highly Connected World. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press; 2010.Google Scholar
20. Borgatti, SP, Everett, MG, Freeman, LC. Ucinet for Windows: Software for Social Network Analysis. Cambridge, MA: Analytic Technologies; 2002.Google Scholar
21. Van Eck, NJ, Waltman, L. VOSviewer: a computer program for bibliometric mapping. Proceedings of ISSU 2009 - 12th International Conference of the International Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics. 2009;2L886-897.Google Scholar
22. Van Eck, NJ, Waltman, L. 2010 Software survey: VOSviewer, a computer program for bibliometric mapping. Scientometrics. 2010;84:523-538.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
23. World Health Organization (WHO). Disease Outbreak News (DONs). http://www.who.int/csr/don/en/. Accessed November 26, 2013.Google Scholar