Knowledge diffusion and collaboration networks on life cycle assessment

Abstract

Purpose The interest in life cycle assessment (LCA) studies has increased over the years, and one of the main ways of disseminating these studies is through the publication of articles in scientific journals. Coauthorship relations form a social network where it is possible to identify how research is organized and structured in a specific field of knowledge. This paper aims to show the spread of these studies and the configuration of a collaboration network based on coauthorship relations between researchers of LCA considering some properties of social networks. Methods The research was based on a bibliometric approach of 1,386 articles related to LCA and published in journals indexed in the ISI/Web of Science until 2008. A free software, Pajek, which has been largely used for the representation and analysis of social networks, was employed in this work. The properties of social networks analyzed in this study were power law, degrees of separation, giant component, and clustering. Results and discussion The research showed a social network formed by 2,598 authors from 60 countries, 88% of coauthored articles, a mean of 1.87 authors per article; the distribution of articles per author follows a power law (f (z)= 2,134.3×z −2.544 ) with a high regression coefficient (R 2 = 0.9704), a degree of separation of 6.5, a giant component embracing 37% of the authors, and a clustering coefficient of 0.75. The LCA coauthorship network has properties following power law patterns similar to other nets such as WWW. The community forms a giant component which is still small, but which, nevertheless, might experience considerable growth in the near future. The average distance between authors follows the smallworld hypothesis. The clustering degree was also coherent with other scientific communities. Conclusions In spite of being an area with less than 20 years of publications registered in the ISI/Web of Science, LCA is now experiencing fast dissemination involving a large number of articles, authors, and institutions. The LCA's coauthorship network can be characterized as a scientific community with properties verified in other networks of more consolidated academic collaboration.

Life cycle assessment research in Brazil: characteristics, interdiciplinarity, and applications

“…This assessment method has gained the interest of academia, producers, governments, and the organized society. Research conducted by De Souza and Barbastefano (2011) showed that LCA is experiencing fast dissemination, which involves a growing number of researchers and institutions. Bjorn et al (2013) also identified several LCA networks that are primarily located in Europe, the Americas, Southeast Asia, and Oceania, with partnerships formed among universities, companies, and non-governmental organizations.…”

“…According to De Souza and Barbastefano (2011), several reasons can explain the interest in LCA studies: (i) the increased concern and awareness of society of environmental issues; (ii) the adoption of practices focused on life cycle assessment seeking to set standards such as ISO 14044; (iii) the role of organizations as the UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative, national LCA societies, the Society for Industrial Ecology, and national environmental agencies (e.g., Environmental Protection Agency); and (iv) the establishment of government policies and financing agencies to stimulate actions and research for sustainable development. As noted by Guinée et al (2011), the second decade of the twenty-first century will be the decade of sustainability in which LCA research would investigate about product diversity, sectors, and mechanisms.…”

<b>A comparative study on the reliability of co-authorship networks with emphases on edges and nodes

“…Several studies on SNA-employing coauthorship show that collaborations among researchers increased in all areas of knowledge and reveal the importance of co-authorship in the establishment of scientific production (Newman, 2004;Lee & Bozeman, 2005;Maia & Caregnato, 2008;Hayashi, Hayashi Lima, 2008;Yan & Ding, 2009;Abbasi, Altmann, & Hwang, 2010;Goldenberg et al, 2010;Souza & Barbastefano, 2011;Abbasi, Altmann, & Hossain, 2011;Barbastefano, Souza, Costa, & Teixeira, 2013;Abbasi, Wigand, & Hossain, 2014;among others).…”

Inferência estatística clássica para a confiabilidade de rede de coautoria com enfoque nos vértices

“…Os resultados de diversos estudos sobre coautoria usando ARS revelam que as colaborações entre pesquisadores têm aumentado em todas as áreas do conhecimento e mostram a importância da coautoria na solidificação da produção científica (YOSHIKANE; KAGEURA, 2004, NEWMAN, 2004BOZEMAN, 2005, MAIA;CAREGNATO, 2008, HAYASHI;HAYASHI;LIMA, 2008;YAN;DING, 2009, ABBASI;HWANG, 2010, GOLDENBERG et al, 2010SOUZA;BARBASTEFANO, 2011, ABBASI;HOSSAIN, 2011, BARBASTEFANO et al, 2013WIGAND;HOSSAIN, 2014; dentre outros).…”