Publication // The Water and Food Nexus: Trends and Development of the Research Landscape

The aim of this report is to provide a transparent view of the water research landscape and the key players within the field, which is becoming more dynamic, complex and, in some places, fragmented. The report clearly shows that water research is growing in new places and becoming increasingly interdisciplinary, where collaboration is a key factor in producing high impact research.

Core Findings

Exploding water research landscape

There has been a dramatic growth of water research since the 1980’s. From 2007 to 2011, water resources research grew at a rate of 9.2% per year, while food and water research grew by 4.7% each year.

Increase in international collaboration

Since the flow of water respects no manmade boundaries, water problems are often international problems. More than half of all water resources and water and food research articles are produced by international collaboration among researchers.

Publication landscape per country

Output is highest in the United States in both water resources and water and food research, but recent growth is very low. China is seeing the fruits of steadily increased investment in water research and may surpass the United States in water research publication output in a few years.

Country impact

The most impactful papers, defined for this study as average citations per paper, in water resources research originated in the Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark and Belgium, while the most impactful papers in water and food research came from Sweden, Switzerland, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Denmark.

Download

Elsevier website

Published

August 2012

By

• Elsevier
• Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI)