No abstract

Publishing histories can reveal changes in ornithological effort, focus or direction through time. This study presents a bibliometric content analysis of Emu (1901-2011) which revealed 115 trends (long-term changes in publication over time) and 18 fads (temporary increases in publication activity) from the classification of 9,039 articles using 128 codes organised into eight categories (author gender, author affiliation, article type, subject, main focus, main method, geographical scale and geographical location). Across 110 years, private authorship declined, while publications involving universities and multiple institutions increased; from 1960, female authorship increased. Over time, question-driven studies and incidental observations increased and decreased in frequency, respectively. Single species and 'taxonomic group' subjects increased while studies of birds at specific places decreased. The focus of articles shifted from species distribution and activities of the host organisation to breeding, foraging and other biological/ecological topics. Site-and Australian-continental-scales slightly decreased over time; non-Australian studies increased from the 1970s. A wide variety of fads occurred (e.g. articles on bird distribution, 1942-1951, and using museum specimens, 1906-1913) though the occurrence of fads decreased over time. Changes over time are correlated with technological, theoretical, social and institutional changes, and suggest ornithological priorities, like those of other scientific disciplines, are temporally labile.

At the continental scale, ecological research effort is not spatially uniform. We used a century-long bibliometric database of the journal Emu – Austral Ornithology to index the spatial patterns in bird research in Australia (from articles with explicit study locations). Studies have been concentrated in Tasmania and the southwest, southeast and coastal parts of the mainland. Large spatial gaps exist in ornithological study, which are similar to those identified by Arnold Robert McGill in his 1948 review paper ( McGill 1948 ). Pre-1948 only 9.4% of articles [n = 2,107] fell within the gaps mapped by McGill in 1948, indicating that his mapping was largely accurate. These gaps have largely persisted; only 11.2% of the 1,498 articles published since 1948 came from within those gaps. We present a complementary spatial gap analysis, which focuses on studies of areas with broadly similar biogeographies (Interim Biogeographical Regions of Australia (IBRAs)). Of 85 mainland IBRAs (of 89 defined), five have no bird studies from within them (368,380 km2; 4.9% of Australia), and 34 have less than 10 studies (3,335,498 km2; 43.9%). We intersect IBRAs with McGill's gaps and show that some IBRAs within McGill's gaps are now better-studied, but 64.8% of the area within the McGill gaps boundaries comprises IBRAs where there have been no post-1948 studies in Emu. We also present an updated map of key geographical gaps in the study of Australian birds, which apparently remain extensive 60 years after they were first identified.