A scientometric review of permafrost research based on textual analysis (1948–2020)

Abstract

This article proposes an analysis of research dedicated to permafrost. Its originality is twofold: it covers a corpus (n=16,249) that has never been reviewed before and also makes use of a methodology based on successive textual analysis processes. With the text-mining of additional corpuses, we produce lists of qualified terms to fine-tune the indexing of the main corpus and isolate relevant terminology dedicated to infrastructure and soil properties. With these enrichments combined with other terminological extractions (such as place names recognition), we reveal the internal structure of permafrost research with the help of visual mapping and easily prove that permafrost research is multidisciplinary and multi-topical The semantic map and the diachronic analysis of terms clusters show that the interest had turned since the 1980s towards the role of climate change but also on China's needs for its highway and railway construction sites. The very strong and growing impact of Chinese research, focused on the Tibetan area, is one of the highlights of our data. Furthermore, we propose a focus on infrastructure vulnerability and use soil properties as a proxy to measure the existing interactions between two distinct research communities. The results suggest that research has mainly focused so far on the feasibility of building on frozen ground and exploiting soils, but remains at an early stage of addressing the impact of global warming on infrastructure degradation and its resilience. This study offers insights to permafrost experts, but also provide a methodology that could be reused for other investigations.

Research on Resonance Properties of Semantic Wave Fractal Fractals Based on Quantitative Analysis of English Corpus

“…Humphrey & Robinson [4] constructed a 4x4 analytical framework of knowledge development and academic reading based on the semantic wave concept of legitimized code theory, providing teachers and students with criteria for language learning. In addition, Maton [5] pointed out that due to the specialization principle of legitimizing code theory, there are problems of context dependence and semantic compression that cannot be solved by themselves in independent studies. The issues of context dependence and semantic compression overlap within the dichotomous categories in Bernstein's code theory, educational discourse, and knowledge structure theory [6].…”

Impacts of permafrost degradation on infrastructure

“…In the end, we highlight seven topics that should be considered to support operational infrastructure in permafrost areas in the future. Owing to the increasing economic and environmental relevance of the permafrost areas 8,19,23,24,31 , such a review is of a vital importance for sustainable development of Arctic and high-altitude cold regions.…”

Hotspots and trends in frozen soils research in 2010–2019

“…In this approach, methods such as co‐occurrence, coupling, and clustering analysis are applied flexibly to characterize and describe the development and layout of disciplines within a field. They reflect the evolution of a field’s topics, and provide relevant support for scientific researchers and decision‐makers 32,36,38,39 . However, while some researchers have conducted bibliometric analyses on papers dealing with permafrost 32,38 and unfrozen water, 40 there is in general currently a lack of macroscopic analysis on frozen soils.…”

“…They reflect the evolution of a field's topics, and provide relevant support for scientific researchers and decision-makers. 32,36,38,39 However, while some researchers have conducted bibliometric analyses on papers dealing with permafrost 32,38 and unfrozen water, 40 there is in general currently a lack of macroscopic analysis on frozen soils. Moreover, the research strengths and influences of various countries and institutions, and the hotspots and topics relating to frozen soils science, remain unknown.…”