TY - JOUR
T1 - Trends in animal behaviour research (1968-2002)
T2 - Ethoinformatics and the mining of library databases
AU - Ord, Terry J.
AU - Martins, Emília P.
AU - Thakur, Sidharth
AU - Mane, Ketan K.
AU - Börner, Katy
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Roger Beckman (Indiana University (IU) Life Sciences Library), Ann Bristow (Reference Department, IU Main Library) and Ralph Quarles (IU Library Information Technology) for providing advice and access to Indiana University's reference databases. Elizabeth Ten Have (Product Manager, BIOSIS) provided additional information regarding Biological Abstracts. We also thank Peter Klopfer for providing us with unpublished material that was the basis of his article in the ABS Newsletter , 47(3) , 4–5; and Barbara Clucas, Britt Heidinger and Erin Kelso for comments on previous versions of the manuscript. We are particularly grateful to George Uetz, Lee Drickamer, Felicity Huntingford and an anonymous referee for discussion that greatly improved this study. This material is based on work supported by National Science Foundation under grant Nos IBN-0205180, IBN-0236049 and DEB-0196357 to E.P.M. and IIS-0238261 and DUE-0333623 to K.B.
PY - 2005/6
Y1 - 2005/6
N2 - We applied modern bioinformatic tools to titles and keywords of animal behaviour publications contained in an electronic library database to examine trends in animal behaviour research. We provide the first quantitative overview of animal behaviour research covering 42 836 documents published in the last three decades, across 25 journals. Our study confirms several patterns noted by previous reviews, and offers several novel insights into the history of our field. Profound historical distinctions between early ethology and comparative psychology have been recently bridged by shared interest in communication and social behaviour, and research from physiology and applied areas. Although we reiterate the rise of sexual selection and mating behaviour as prominent areas of research, we also show that interest in mechanism and development has proven particularly resilient over the years. Currently, researchers at hundreds of institutions worldwide are studying animal behaviour. Domesticated animals, foraging/dispersal and learning/memory are topics that appear most frequently in publications from regions that have little history of animal behaviour research, suggesting that these subjects are central to the early development of the discipline. Overall, the study of animal behaviour is healthy, growing, and becoming progressively more integrative over time.
AB - We applied modern bioinformatic tools to titles and keywords of animal behaviour publications contained in an electronic library database to examine trends in animal behaviour research. We provide the first quantitative overview of animal behaviour research covering 42 836 documents published in the last three decades, across 25 journals. Our study confirms several patterns noted by previous reviews, and offers several novel insights into the history of our field. Profound historical distinctions between early ethology and comparative psychology have been recently bridged by shared interest in communication and social behaviour, and research from physiology and applied areas. Although we reiterate the rise of sexual selection and mating behaviour as prominent areas of research, we also show that interest in mechanism and development has proven particularly resilient over the years. Currently, researchers at hundreds of institutions worldwide are studying animal behaviour. Domesticated animals, foraging/dispersal and learning/memory are topics that appear most frequently in publications from regions that have little history of animal behaviour research, suggesting that these subjects are central to the early development of the discipline. Overall, the study of animal behaviour is healthy, growing, and becoming progressively more integrative over time.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.anbehav.2004.08.020
DO - 10.1016/j.anbehav.2004.08.020
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:20444373040
SN - 0003-3472
VL - 69
SP - 1399
EP - 1413
JO - Animal Behaviour
JF - Animal Behaviour
IS - 6
ER -