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Relations of geography with other disciplines: A bibliometric analysis

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 Geographia Polonica
2016, Volume 89, Issue 2, pp. 203-220
http://dx.doi.org/10.7163/GPol.0054

INSTITUTE OF GEOGRAPHY AND SPATIAL ORGANIZATION

POLISH ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
www.igipz.pan.pl
www.geographiapolonica.pl

RELATIONS OF GEOGRAPHY WITH OTHER DISCIPLINES:

A BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS
Krzysztof Stachowiak • Artur Bajerski
Institute of Socio-Economic Geography and Spatial Management
Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań
Dzięgielowa 2, 61-680 Poznań: Poland
e-mails: [email protected] • [email protected]

Abstract
The aim of this article was to examine the relations of physical and human geography with selected disciplines
of natural and exact sciences as well as social sciences. The results shows that: (1) the position of geography
among other disciplines is relatively high, however the relative position of human geography in social sciences
is higher than that of physical geography in natural and exact sciences, (2) both geographical disciplines show
an adverse ‘trade balance’ in scientific exchange, (3) human geography is more ‘introverted’, (4) relations
between human geography and other disciplines are stronger than in the case of physical geography.

Key words
geography • bibliometric analysis • journals • citations

Introduction (Ferguson 2003). Often, especially in Polish

geography, the problem discussed is that
Relations of geography with other disci- of its poor internal integration, i.e. coopera-
plines are often used to assess the opera- tion between physical and human geography,
tion of geography as an independent science and the low position of geography in the sci-
(Turner 2002; Mulligan 2003; Lisowski 2004). ence system and in practice (Lisowski 2008,
Some researchers stress the weakness 2011; Maik 2008; Richling 2008; Bański
of geography resulting, among other things, 2010, 2013).
from borrowing scientific knowledge from The quantitative analyses of relations
other fields (e.g. Mulligan 2003; Lisowski of geography with other disciplines made
2004). Others, in turn, claim that the weak- so far have focused primarily on Anglo-Saxon
ness of geography is rather a result of its geography and involved comparing publica-
insufficient integration with other disciplines tion practices of physical and human geogra-
and reliance primarily on its own output phers. With reference to young scholars, Thrift

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 204 Krzysztof Stachowiak • Artur Bajerski

(2002) reports that human geographers pub- than in human geography, for which they are
lish almost exclusively in journals represent- the chief medium for reporting the results
ing their subdiscipline. The differences in the of scholarly work in some countries (e.g. Ward
publication practices of researchers repre- et al. 2009; Bajerski & Siwek 2011).
senting the two subdisciplines of geography These studies of publication practices
were later corroborated by Ferguson (2003) of geographers, although valuable in cogni-
and Johnston (2005). When examining publi- tive terms, show the links of geography with
cation practices of physical and human geog- other sciences only in an indirect way. In fact,
raphers, Ferguson (2003) analysed in what they concern modes of scientific communica-
journals selected eminent scholars published tion. However, relations among disciplines
their most influential works (with more than manifest themselves in the use of scientific
20 citations in the Web of Science database). knowledge and research methods (Chojnicki
He found that physical geographers tended 1999: 93). Hence a direct picture of those
to publish in interdisciplinary journals decid- relations can be obtained by analysing the
edly more frequently than human geogra- use of geographical knowledge and methods
phers. This was confirmed by Johnston’s in other disciplines and the use of knowledge
(2005) study of British geography. On the and methods of other disciplines in geogra-
basis of information given by geographical phy. Such studies can be qualitative in nature,
units for a parametric assessment of their e.g. when the scope and significance of links
scientific activity in 2001 (the so-called RAE, is assessed on the basis of selected cases,
or Research Assessment Exercise), he showed or quantitative, when an analysis is made
that British human geographers published of the citation rates of works. Especially wide
primarily in British geographical journals, possibilities are offered by a quantitative
while British physical geographers did analysis of citations; it allows covering a large
so mainly in American interdisciplinary jour- number of articles and journals while reduc-
nals. Ferguson’s (2003) and Johnston’s (2005) ing the arbitrariness of decisions taken in the
results can provide a basis for the thesis that course of the research procedure.
physical geography is more closely connected In spite of the advantages of an analysis
with natural sciences than human geography of citations in the assessment of the links
is with social sciences (Lisowski 2011), which of geography with other sciences, only a few
can imply that physical geography occupies authors have used this method so far. One
a higher position in the system of sciences. of the first analyses of the problems at hand
It should be kept in mind, however, that this was presented by Whitehand (1985), who
situation may change in successive years. focused on whether works authored by the
This is suggested by the results of a study group of the most often cited geographers
by Foster et al. (2007), who demonstrated were cited primarily by geographers, or also
a growing share of important (i.e. highly cited) by representatives of other disciplines (with-
works by economic geographers in non-geo- out their identification). His study showed
graphical journals after 1980. a comparable proportion of citations from
Differences in publication practices geography and other disciplines, with cita-
between physical and human geographers tions by geographers dominating in the ear-
are not limited to publication in different kinds lier years of their scholarly careers, and cita-
of journals, but also involve a broader prob- tions by representatives of other disciplines,
lem: the share of various scientific communi- in their later years.
cation media. Ferguson (2003) explains the The use of publications from physical
greater number of highly cited works in the and human geography by other disciplines
output of eminent physical geographers, was examined in the next years by Bodman
among other things, by the lesser signifi- (1991). He analysed citation rates of works
cance of monographs in physical geography authored by a large group of geographers

Geographia Polonica 2016, 89, 2, pp. 203-220

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 Relations of geography with other disciplines: A bibliometric analysis 205

working at universities in Great Britain, the one hand and with social sciences on the
United States, Canada and Australia, holding other. The measure of the links was the num-
posts corresponding to those of a lecturer ber of citations of articles from geographical
or assistant professor, and higher. His study journals in those representing other disci-
showed human geography to be much more plines and vice versa. More specifically, the
‘introvert’ than physical geography. Social article sought: (1) to determine the position
and economic geographers were almost of geography among related disciplines, (2)
twice as often cited in key geographical jour- to identify disciplines most strongly associ-
nals as physical geographers (39% and 20% ated with geography by an exchange of scien-
of all citations, respectively), and almost half tific information, (3) to determine the relations
as often in key journals of other disciplines of knowledge import/export between human
(15% and 30%, respectively). This higher geography, physical geography and other
‘introversion’ of human geography revealed disciplines, and (4) to determine the average
by Bodman (1991) has been corroborated strength of the links of human and physical
by Foster et al. (2007) and Laffan (2010). geography with exact and natural sciences
Foster et al. (2007) showed that the most fre- as well as social sciences.
quently cited articles in economic geography, What should be kept in mind is that this
almost without change from the 1980s to the article, like the research results mentioned
start of the 21st century, were those quoted above, refers to so-called international geog-
in geographical journals (ca. 50-55% of all raphy. International geography, referred to in
citations). Less frequently geographers’ works the text simply as geography, is assumed
were cited in journals representing environ- to be this part of results that are published
mental sciences (ca. 30%), urban studies (ca. in journals indexed by Thomson Reuters in the
17%), and economy (ca. 12%). The use of the Web of Science database (although the appli-
results of economic geography works in soci- cation of the term ‘international’ to geogra-
ology, political science and management (up phy understood in this way arouses justified
to 5%) was marginal, although growing. criticism because of its being dominated
In turn, Laffan (2010), in what might by Anglo-American researchers, journals and
be the fullest quantitative study of the rela- theories – see, e.g., Minca 2000, Guttiérrez
tions of geography with other disciplines & López-Nieva 2001; Short et al. 2001; Yeung
based on an analysis of citations from the 2001; Aalbers 2004; Simonsen 2004; Timár
Web of Science, demonstrated that the ‘intro- 2004; Aalbers & Rossi 2006, 2009; Bański &
version’ level of human geography was one Ferenc 2013). The authors of this article are
of the highest in the set of the 34 scientific aware that in fact international geography
disciplines he analysed (5th place). He calcu- is a resultant of diverse publication practic-
lated that the ‘introversion’ of human geog- es of scholars from a variety of regions and
raphy was 3.2 times higher than of physical countries, which should also be a subject
geography, and showed that both geographi- of separate studies (Schuermans et al. 2010;
cal subdisciplines were more strongly con- Bajerski 2011; Bajerski & Siwek 2012).
nected with other disciplines than with each
other. Chief sources of information
Since the question of links of geography about citations
with other disciplines is still poorly under-
stood, this article offers a quantitative look In this study the relations of geography with
at this problem which is an extension of Laf- other sciences were examined by analysing
fan’s (2010) research. The chief goal was citations of articles published in geographi-
to examine the strength of links of physical cal journals and those representing other
and human geography with selected disci- disciplines science. At the initial stage of the
plines of exact and natural sciences on the research procedure an assessment was made

Geographia Polonica 2016, 89, 2, pp. 203-220

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 206 Krzysztof Stachowiak • Artur Bajerski

of possibilities offered by three citation bases 4. the Conference Proceedings Citation

most popular today: Web of Science, Scopus Index, which indexes conference materials
and Google Scholar1. Their individual char- from over 148 thous. conferences, includ-
acteristics, advantages and defects as well ing 12 thous. taking place every year; the
as the comparability of the results obtained oldest articles come from 1990;
have often been discussed in scientific litera- 5. Index Chemicus, which indexes articles
ture (Bar-Ilan 2008; Vieira & Gomes 2009; from over 100 chemical journals and
Franceschet 2010; Mikki 2010; Mingers & provides information about more than
Lipitakis 2010). Those three citation bases 2.6 chemical compounds; and
have also been used in earlier studies con- 6. Current Chemical Reactions, which pro-
cerning Polish geography. Racki (2003) and vides information about more than a mil-
Bajerski (2008b) relied on the Web of Science lion chemical reactions.
database, Bajerski (2008a) used the Scopus 7. Book Citation Index, which indexes editori-
database, while Śleszyński (2009, 2013a, ally selected books.
2013b, 2014) resorted to the Google Scholar The most relevant for bibliometric purpos-
database. es are the first three bases, i.e. the Science
The only citation database among those Citation Index Expanded (SCIE), the Social Sci-
employed that allows an analysis of cita- ences Citation Index (SSCI), and the Arts &
tions among disciplines is the Web of Science Humanities Citation Index (AHCI). Together
(cf. Tab. 1). In the Scopus database, jour- they provide information about more than
nals are assigned to very generally defined 47 million scientific articles published in over
fields of science (e.g. social sciences and the 12 thous. journals. It should be kept in mind
humanities, natural sciences), while Google that this number is smaller than the sum
Scholar does not make such an analysis pos- of journals indexed in each of the bases dis-
sible at all. That is why in the research use cussed, because often a journal is indexed
was made of the Web of Science database. in two, and even all three of them. This holds,
The Web of Science is the oldest and most e.g., for general geographical journals pub-
prestigious multi-field scientific citation data- lishing articles from both, natural and social
base in the world. In 2011 it had more than sciences. The Web of Science database
46 million indexed articles representing all rests on a selected set of scientific journals
fields of science. It had seven citation bases: embracing key periodicals in the given dis-
1. the Science Citation Index Expanded ciplines in the world. The decision to include
(SCIE), which indexes over 8.3 thous. jour- a journal into one of those bases is preceded
nals from exact, natural and technical by a rigorous procedure in which such things
sciences, the oldest articles coming from are considered as punctual publication of its
1900; successive volumes, the international position
2 the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), of its authors and editorial board, and cita-
which indexes over 4.5 thous. journals tion rates of articles published in it.
from social sciences, the oldest articles Most journals in the Web of Science data-
coming from 1900; base (ca. 65%, Tab. 1) come out in the United
3. the Arts & Humanities Citation Index States, which leads to frequent criticism and
(AHCI), which indexes over 2,3 thous. accusations of ‘Americentrism’. This at least
humanities journals, the oldest articles a decade-long criticism of bases of the Web
coming from 1975; of Science and the Thomson Reuters corpo-
ration (Yitzhaki 1998; Archambault et al.
2006; Hassink 2007) has led to their open-
1
ing to journals from regions and countries
Google Scholar indexes scientific articles like typi-
cal scientific databases, but in principle it is a freely ac- so far under-represented (e.g. Asia, South
cessible Web search engine. America, Africa, or East-Central Europe,

Geographia Polonica 2016, 89, 2, pp. 203-220

GP_2016_2.indb 206 2016-06-21 11:33:41

 Relations of geography with other disciplines: A bibliometric analysis 207

Table 1. Basic information about the three most popular citation bases: Web of Science, Scopus and
Google Scholar in 2011

Database characteristics Web of Science Scopus Google Scholar

Type database available database available internet search engine
on-line on-line
Owner Thompson Reuters Elsevier Google
Paid subscription yes yes no
Launching year 1960 2002 2004
(Science Citation Index
Expanded)
Number of indexed journals ca. 12,000 ca. 18,000 not revealed by Google
Number of indexed articles 47 million 40 million not revealed by Google
Possibility of full analysis 1945 onwards 1996 onwards n/a
of citations
Selectivity of journals high average low
% of journals published in USA ca. 65% ca. 45% n/a
Journals assigned to fields yes yes no
of science (e.g. social sciences)
Journals assigned to disciplines yes no no
of science (e.g. geography)
Source: own compilation on the basis of the Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar bases.

including Poland). As a result, a sudden jump Each journal indexed in the Web of Science
can be observed, especially since 2007, in the can be assigned to one or several disciplines
number of journals published in some coun- (Tab. 2). Nearly 60% of journals are assigned
tries, like Poland, Lithuania or Turkey. On the to only one discipline, and 30% to two. The
one hand, this has made the Web of Science most multidisciplinary journals are entered
database more representative of world sci- in six disciplines at once. Journals from natu-
ence, and on the other, apart from strictly ral and exact sciences represent a few dis-
international periodicals, it now includes also ciplines slightly more often than those from
those that are regional or local in range. social sciences.

Table 2. Journals by the number of fields to which they are assigned in the Web of Science database

Natural and exact sciences Social sciences

Number of Total
(SCIE database) (SSCI database)
disciplines
journal
number number number
is assigned to % % %
of journals of journals of journals
1 4,234 57.3 1,513 67.0 5,747 59.6
2 2,271 30.7 648 28.7 2,919 30.3
3 702 9.5 85 3.8 787 8.2
4 152 2.1 10 0.4 162 1.7
5 21 0.3 1 0.0 22 0.2
6 7 0.1 0 0.0 7 0.1
Total 7,387 100.0 2,257 100.0 9,644 100.0
Note: The table lists journals with an established impact factor, hence the total number of journals in the
table is smaller than the sum of all journals indexed in the Web of Science database.
Source: own compilation on the basis of the Web of Science and Journal Citation Report (2009).

Geographia Polonica 2016, 89, 2, pp. 203-220

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 208 Krzysztof Stachowiak • Artur Bajerski

Research method of social sciences (so called Web of Sci-

ences categories). While the classification
Formulation of assumptions and the names given to the disciplines may
and operational definitions
raise some objections, it should be observed
The basic assumption adopted in this study that in the contemporary debate on sci-
is that relations among disciplines can ence – in the situation of deep specialisation
be established with the help of an analysis and intertwining fields of many disciplines
of citations. A citation is understood as an – it has in fact a practical character. This
article from discipline A referring to a work is pointed out by philosophers of science
from discipline B. It was assumed that a cita- who, like Bunge (1998: 27), claim that today
tion meant the use of knowledge resources “it would be foolish to place much emphasis
of a given discipline, irrespective of whether on the problem of classifying the sciences,
the reference was favourable or critical. once a favourite pastime of philosophers and
Hence the basic index of the relation among now a subject for science administrators and
disciplines is the number of articles that librarians”. This is also the practical charac-
do the citing. This relation can be bi-direction- ter of the classification adopted in the Web
al, i.e. while being an object of influence itself, of Science database; it could be a subject
a scientific discipline also influences other of a separate study, hence it is not discussed
disciplines. Hence the examination of links in this article.
between geography and other disciplines The choice of concrete disciplines was dic-
also involved an analysis of citations by geog- tated by several reasons. First, the disciplines
raphy of works from other disciplines and taken into consideration were primarily those
an analysis of citations of geographical works with years-long history. They were also usually
by other disciplines. represented by the largest number of journals
Geography occupies a specific position on the Web of Science. Secondly, the selection
in the system of sciences since it examines was also based on a previous research on the
both, natural and social phenomena; hence topic (e.g. Foster et al. 2007; Laffan 2010).
the basic division of geography into physical As a result, data were obtained for the two
and human. And those two disciplines were fields of geography as well as for 26 other cat-
the core of the analysis: physical geography, egories (13 from natural and exact sciences
which belongs to natural and exact sciences and 13 from social sciences) that either share
in the Web of Science database, and human journals or are expected to have some cita-
geography, included among social sciences tion relationship with geography. Out of the
there. The period under study was the years natural and exact sciences, those selected
2006-2010, i.e. the analysis embraced works for study included the following categories:
published then. The data were collected astronomy and astrophysics, biology, chem-
in the winter of 2012 and the analysis was istry, ecology, physics, geochemistry and
made in the spring and summer of 2013. geophysics, geology, soil science, informatics,
mathematics, oceanography, palaeontology,
Choice of the disciplines examined and remote sensing. From the group of social
sciences, the disciplines chosen were: demog-
Although the conception of a scientific disci- raphy, economy, history, management sci-
pline has its methodological model (Chojnicki ence, political sciences, pedagogy, planning,
1999: 83-96), in this study a practical under- psychology, sociology, international relations,
standing of this term was adopted as a cate- regional studies, transport, tourism and rec-
gory distinguished in the Web of Science data- reation. In the case of human geography,
base. In 2009 the classification created for this we used the JCR category called Geogra-
database embraced 173 disciplines of natu- phy, and for physical geography we used the
ral and exact sciences and 55 disciplines ‘Geography, physical’ category.

Geographia Polonica 2016, 89, 2, pp. 203-220

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 Relations of geography with other disciplines: A bibliometric analysis 209

It is worth noting that although we used CITA – number of articles citing articles from dis-
JCR categories as a substitute for disciplines, cipline A,
those two are not exactly the same. The allo- ARTB – number of published articles from disci-
cation of journals to JCR categories is a heu- pline B.
ristic process, as Pudovkin and Garfield (2002)
explain. They note that “once the categories The index assumes values from zero
were established, new journals were assigned to infinity and is measured on a quotient
one at a time. Each decision was based upon scale, which makes the relations among its
a visual examination of all relevant citation values reliable. It is relative in nature, i.e. the
data. As categories grew, subdivisions were strength of a relation should be assessed
established. Among other tools used to make by reference to other relations or to mean val-
individual journal assignments, the Hayne- ues. Its advantage is that it gives the number
-Coulson algorithm is used. The algorithm of citations between two disciplines exam-
has never been published. It treats any desig- ined in relation to the total citation count
nated group of journals as one macrojournal of a discipline. Also, it offers not only the
and produces a combined printout of cited absolute citation count, but also the volume
and citing journal data” (Pudovkin & Garfield of the scientific production of this discipline
2002: 1113). It means that there is some sub- understood as the number of articles pub-
jectivity in the allocation of journals to the lished by journals belonging to it. To illustrate
categories. This is a possible problem for the complex relations among disciplines, let
the present analysis in that the categories us give the following example. In the years
may not truly represent the diversity of the 2006-2010 human geography cited 573 arti-
discipline of geography. However, as Laf- cles from economy, and economy, 937 arti-
fan (2010: 168) points out, “the categories cles from human geography2 (cf. Tab. 4).
do appear to be logical groupings, journals This might imply that it was geography that
can be indexed in more than one category, supplied more knowledge to economy than
and the data do allow broad differences and the other way round. However, there were
relationships to be assessed”. 37,187 articles published in economy over
this time as against 9,552 of those in human
Choice of the research method geography. This means that, in a relative
approach, 5.7% of geographical articles cited
Because of the assumption that relations economy, and a mere 2.5% of economic arti-
among disciplines can be established through cles cited geography. In turn, all geographical
an analysis of citations, use was made of bib- articles were cited by a total of 5,497 works,
liometric methods, in particular of Pudovkin’s and economic papers by 19,659 articles.
index, known in bibliometrics and worked out Hence the relation of the citations of geo-
in the 1990s. Detailed information and exam- graphical works by economy to all citations
ples of its use can be found in Pudovkin (1993), of geographical works is 0.10 (573/5,497),
Pudovkin and Fuseler (1995), and Pudovkin and the proportion of citations of economic
and Garfield (2002). This index is given by the works by human geography to all citations
formula: of economic works is 0.05 (937/19,659). It is
RAB = CITAB / (CITA * ARTB) * 107 2
It should be kept in mind that formulations like
‘human geography cited economy’ are stylistic phras-
where:
es intended to make the text more readable. What
RAB – strength of the relation between disci- is meant here are articles in journals classified as be-
plines A and B, longing to the ‘human geography’ field in the Web
CITAB– number of articles citing works from disci- of Science database whose authors cite works from
journals belonging to the ‘economy’ field in this data-
pline A in articles from discipline B, base. This remark also applies to the later text where
this type of phrases appear as well.

Geographia Polonica 2016, 89, 2, pp. 203-220

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 210 Krzysztof Stachowiak • Artur Bajerski

important to take into consideration those

various aspects of the bi-directional relations Collecting and processing the data
between disciplines, and Pudovkin’s index and their analysis
helps to model the complex links among dis- The next stage involved collecting and pro-
ciplines in a simple way. For the geography- cessing data. As has already been mentioned,
economy relation, this index amounts to 23.0, all information concerning citations comes
and for the economy-geography relation, from the Web of Science database. Citation
19.7. This means a slightly stronger relation counts were made for a total of 632,582 arti-
of geography with economy than of econo- cles from 28 fields (2 geographical disciplines
my with geography. This can be interpreted and 26 associated ones) and the mate-
in terms of an exchange of goods in trade: rial was further analysed using the meth-
human geography ‘imports’ a bit more ods described above. The basic part of the
goods from economy than it ‘exports’ to it. research procedure was an analysis of rela-
In Pudovkin’s index the multiplier 107 is estab- tions of the two geographical disciplines with
lished arbitrarily, its task being only to make other disciplines, the results of which are pre-
the interpretation of results easier, because sented in a later part of this paper.
index values are very low. Thus, instead
of 0.00000155 we get 15.5. This has no influ- Geography and other scientific
ence whatsoever on the variability of values disciplines
or the results of analyses.
In the study use was also made of the The chief goals sought in the analysis of links
impact factor of journals, which presents the of geography with other disciplines included:
frequency with which articles from a journal (a) establishing the position of geography
are cited over a specified time. In fact, this among the disciplines examined, (b) defin-
is an index of the general prestige and force ing the set of disciplines making most fre-
of influence of scientific journals. It is calcu- quent use of geographical knowledge and
lated by the Institute for Scientific Information the intensity of this use, (c) defining the set
in Philadelphia as a simple quotient of two of disciplines from which geography derives
quantities: knowledge and the intensity of this use, and
(d) determining the strength of the relation
IF = X/Y,
between geography and the other disciplines.
where: The position of geography measured
X – is the total number of citations of all pub- by the impact factor of scientific journals
lications a journal received in a given cal- was relatively high (Tab. 3). Human geogra-
endar year that appeared in it over two phy came fourth among the 14 disciplines
the years preceding that year (without self- of social sciences examined, with the impact
citations), and factor of 1.37, higher than for economy and
Y – is the number of all publications that sociology. In turn, physical geography occu-
appeared in that period. For example, if the pied sixth position among the 14 disciplines
index was 3 in 2010, this means that each of natural and exact sciences examined,
publication that appeared in the journal with the impact factor of 2.29, higher than,
in the years 2008-2009 was cited 3 times e.g., in geology and palaeontology. It should
on average in 2010 by the authors of other be noted that an average article in physical
publications in journals listed by the Insti- geography had almost one citation more
tute for Scientific Information in Philadel- than an average article in human geography.
phia. This index can assume values from In terms of the number of journals and pub-
zero to infinity, but in practice maximum lished articles, geography came as a medi-
values are ca. 30 for the most prestigious um-sized discipline. In social sciences the big-
journals. gest disciplines were economy, management

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 Relations of geography with other disciplines: A bibliometric analysis 211

science and political science, and in natural geography occupied 20th place among
and exact sciences, physics, ecology and 55 disciplines of social sciences, and physical
chemistry. geography, 79th place among 173 disciplines
Because the position of the geographi- of natural and exact sciences. Because the
cal disciplines with respect to the select- number of disciplines varies in natural and
ed disciplines presented above could not exact sciences, in order to compare the rela-
match the actual position of geography, its tive positions of the two disciplines their posi-
place was checked relative to all disciplines tions were normalised in the ranking (within
entered in the Web of Science database. the range of 0 to 100). This put human geog-
In terms of the impact factor, in 2009 human raphy in the middle of the third decile (36th

Table 3. The position of geography among the examined disciplines in 2009

(a) Physical geography among the examined disciplines of natural sciences

Impact Number Number

No. Discipline
factor average of journals of articles
1. Astronomy and astrophysics 4.44 53 14,562
2. Biology 3.08 76 11,427
3. Physics 2.89 71 21,998
4. Ecology 2.78 129 14,289
5. Chemistry 2.64 70 17,687
6. Physical geography 2.29 36 3,420
7. Geochemistry and 2.15 75 7,687
geophysics
8. Oceanography 1.90 56 4,950
9. Remote sensing 1.73 21 1,934
10. Geology 1.72 49 2,167
11. Soil science 1.70 31 3,515
12. Palaeontology 1.68 41 2,125
13. Informatics 1.65 95 9,576
14. Mathematics 1.55 80 6,737
(b) Human geography among the examined disciplines of social sciences

Impact Number Number

No. Discipline
factor average of journals of articles
1. Psychology 1.68 50 2,813
2. Management science 1.65 112 4,932
3. Transport 1.44 18 873
4. Human geography 1.37 62 2,334
5. Tourism and recreation 1.28 20 703
6. Economy 1.15 247 11,856
7. Demography 1.14 24 686
8. Planning and development 1.05 44 1,860
9. Sociology 0.92 114 3,581
10. Pedagogy 0.88 139 5,339
11. International relations 0.86 59 2,026
12. Political science 0.81 112 4,259
13. Regional studies 0.54 44 1,275
14. History 0.36 32 726
Source: own compilation on the basis of Journal Citation Report 2009.

Geographia Polonica 2016, 89, 2, pp. 203-220

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 212 Krzysztof Stachowiak • Artur Bajerski

place), and physical geography, in the middle Table 4. Disciplines making use of the knowledge
of the fourth decile (46th place). This shows of human geography
the relative position of human geography (a) Disciplines most often citing human geography
among social sciences to be slightly higher
than that of physical geography among natu- Articles citing
ral and exact sciences. No. Discipline
number %
One of the major aspects of relations
of geography with other disciplines is deter- 1. Human geography 1,196 21.2
mining the set of disciplines making most fre- 2. Ecology 667 11.8
3. Economy 573 10.2
quent use of geographical knowledge and the
4. Planning 534 9.5
intensity of this use. This is done via an analy-
5. Physical geography 407 7.2
sis of citations of works published in jour-
6. Sociology 347 6.2
nals classed as geographical. For all articles
7. Management science 231 4.1
in geography published in the years 2006-
8. Political science 231 4.1
-2010, the number of articles citing them was
9. Transport 202 3.6
examined and the disciplines they belonged
10. Remote sensing 156 2.8
to were identified. The results are presented
Remaining 18 disciplines 1,085 19.3
in Tables 4a and 5a. Works from physical
Total 5,629 100.0
geography were referred to by 13.5 thous.
articles, and those from human geography (b) Disciplines most often cited by human geography
were cited by 5.6 thous. articles. Slightly more Articles cited
than a half of works (54.0%) citing physical Lp. Discipline
geography came from three disciplines: ecol- number %
ogy, physical geography and palaeontology. 1. Human geography 1,196 16.7
In human geography, a similar proportion 2. Economy 937 13.1
of articles (52.8%) were cited by four disci- 3. Planning 772 10.8
plines: human geography, ecology, economy, 4. Ecology 755 10.6
and planning. In the case of physical geog- 5. Sociology 647 9.0
raphy there was a greater ‘concentration’ 6. Political science 477 6.7
of citations: the ten most frequently citing 7. Physical geography 467 6.5
disciplines made up 95.0% of all citations, 8. Management science 273 3.8
while in human geography they accounted 9. International relations 209 2.9
for 80.7% of citations. 10. Remote sensing 182 2.5
The next aspect of relations of geogra- Remaining 18 disciplines 1,240 17.3
phy with other disciplines was determining Total 7,155 100.0
the set of disciplines from which geography Source: own compilation on the basis of the Web
derives knowledge. As in the case of the use of Science database.
of geographical knowledge, this was done via
an analysis of citations of works published 66.5% of all articles cited. Human geography
in journals classed as belonging to the vari- most frequently cited itself as well as works
ous scientific disciplines. For all works from from economy, planning, and sociology, which
the 28 disciplines selected, published in the together made up 60.2% of the articles cited.
years 2006-2010, the number of articles The set of those disciplines was similar to the
cited by geographical works was examined. one that cited geographical works most
The results are presented in Tables 4b and often. This means that each of the two geo-
5b. Physical geography most frequently cited graphical disciplines has a core of disciplines
works from ecology, physical geography, geol- from which it draws knowledge, but also
ogy, as well as geochemistry and geophys- which reciprocate and make use of geograph-
ics; works in those disciplines accounted for ical knowledge. The only discipline strongly

Geographia Polonica 2016, 89, 2, pp. 203-220

GP_2016_2.indb 212 2016-06-21 11:33:41

 Relations of geography with other disciplines: A bibliometric analysis 213

connected with both physical and human Table 5. Disciplines drawing on knowledge from
geography was ecology. This is not surprising physical geography
if we consider that ecology studies, among (a) Disciplines most frequently citing physical
other things, relations holding between man geography
and the environment, and those are some
of the basic elements of modern research Articles citing
No. Discipline
problems in geography (Chojnicki 2000; Maik number %
2004, 2008).
1. Ecology 4,133 30.7
Also characteristic are relations between
2. Physical geography 1,855 13.8
the two geographical disciplines, which 3. Palaeontology 1,281 9.5
make use of each other’s output, but this 4. Geochemistry 1,262 9.4
relation is asymmetric. Human geography and geophysics
refers to works in physical geography more 5. Geology 1,104 8.2
often than the other way round. About 7% 6. Oceanography 948 7.0
of works cited by or citing human geography 7. Remote sensing 861 6.4
belonged to physical geography, while ca. 3% 8. Human geography 467 3.5
of works cited by or citing physical geogra- 9. Biology 446 3.3
phy belonged to human geography. There 10. Soil science 446 3.3
seems to be a tendency for human geog- Remaining 18 disciplines 667 5.0
raphy to cite works from natural and exact Total 13,470 100.0
sciences generally more often than physical (b) Disciplines most often cited by physical geography
geography cites works from social sciences.
In human geography, 27.0% of the articles Articles cited
No. Discipline
it cited represented natural and exact scienc- number %
es, while 5.9% of physical geography papers
1. Ecology 3,482 27.3
referred to works from social sciences.
2. Physical geography 1,855 14.5
Even if we exclude works from ecology and
3. Geology 1,641 12.9
physical geography, works from natural and
4. Geochemistry 1,505 11.8
exact sciences still accounted for 9.9% of all and geophysics
those cited by human geography. This group 5. Palaeontology 919 7.2
included remote sensing (2.5% of the works 6. Oceanography 829 6.5
cited), geology (1.4%), informatics (1.3%), 7. Remote sensing 595 4.7
mathematics (1.3%), and soil science (1.0%). 8. Soil science 478 3.7
The social science disciplines most frequently 9. Biology 427 3.3
cited by physical geography included econo- 10. Human geography 407 3.2
my (0.7% of the works cited), planning (0.6%), Remaining 18 disciplines 615 4.8
and sociology (0.5%). Total 12,753 100.0
To determine the intensity and complex- Source: own compilation on the basis of the Web
ity of links between geography and the other of Science database.
disciplines, use was made of Pudovkin’s index
characterised in the section of the article A. On this basis it is possible to determine
describing the research methodology. This the ‘trade balance’ of scientific knowledge,
index was used to examine bi-directional hence in the interpretation of the results
relations between the two geographical dis- obtained use was made of terms connected
ciplines and the remaining ones, termed the with economic trade, like import and export,
strength of the relation. The bi-directionality and trade surplus or deficit. For example,
of relations means the use of knowledge ‘import’ in the relations of physical geogra-
from discipline A by discipline B and the use phy with geology means the use of geologi-
of knowledge from disciplines B by discipline cal knowledge by geography (as expressed

Geographia Polonica 2016, 89, 2, pp. 203-220

GP_2016_2.indb 213 2016-06-21 11:33:41

 214 Krzysztof Stachowiak • Artur Bajerski

by relatively frequent citations of geological a uniform interpretation is fairly difficult

works in geographical articles, taking into because of differences between the geo-
consideration the size of the disciplines), while graphical disciplines. In physical geography
‘export’ means the use of geographical knowl- the average strength of the relation was 15.5
edge by geology (as expressed by relative (the median 2.5; standard deviation 25.6),
citation rates of geographical works in geo- in human geography, 25.7 (the median 11.7;
logical articles, taking into consideration the standard deviation 36.8), and for the whole
size of the disciplines). A favourable ‘trade of geography, 20.6 (the median 5.1; standard
balance’ means that ‘exports’ dominate deviation 31.9). Readily visible are differences
over ‘imports’, i.e. that geology takes greater in the values for the individual disciplines.
advantage of geographical knowledge than The relations of human geography with
physical geography of geological knowledge. other disciplines are presented in Figure 1.
And the other way round, an adverse ‘trade It shows them to be the strongest with social
balance’ means the dominance of ‘imports’ sciences, especially with planning, regional
over ‘exports’, i.e. that physical geography studies and demography, although there are
derives more knowledge from geology than disciplines in natural and exact sciences with
geology from geography. which this relation is also strong (e.g. with
In the analysis, values of the index of the physical geography and remote sensing). Pre-
strength of the relation of geography with oth- dominant in the relations with social sciences
er disciplines under 10 were taken to be low, are ‘deficits’ in the scientific ‘trade balance’,
between 10 and 30, average, and over 30, which means that human geography makes
high. It should be stressed that establishing more frequent use of the output of other

180
natural and exact sciences social sciences
160
"Import"
"Export"
140
strenght of the relation

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
Remote sensing

Transport

International relations
Mathematics

Planning and development

Regional studies

Tourism and recreation

Management science
Physics

Informatics
Soil science

Physical geography
Human geography

Sociology

Political science
Chemistry
Biology
Geochemistry and geophysics
Oceanography

Palaeontology

Demography

Pedagogy
Ecology
Geology

History

Economy

Psychology
Astronomy and astrophysics

Figure 1. Relations of human geography with other disciplines

Source: own compilation on the basis of the Web of Science database.

Geographia Polonica 2016, 89, 2, pp. 203-220

GP_2016_2.indb 214 2016-06-21 11:33:42

 Relations of geography with other disciplines: A bibliometric analysis 215

sciences than the other way round. The disci- of human geography with physical geogra-
plines with which human geography has the phy is 31.3, much weaker than its links with
most adverse ‘trade balance’ include region- planning (108.0), regional studies (62.9),
al studies, history and planning, and the most demography (60,3), transport sciences (39.9),
favourable ‘trade balance’, with tourism and history (38.3), sociology (36.0), and tourism
recreation, ecology, and physical geography, and recreation (34.9). The situation is similar
of which the last two are classed as natural in the case of physical geography: its relations
and exact sciences. with palaeontology (94.9), geology (69.7) and
Relations of physical geography with other remote sensing (45.5) are stronger than with
disciplines are presented in Figure 2. As in human geography. Generally, the relations
the case of human geography, there is a pre- of human geography with social sciences are
dominance of ‘deficits’ on its scientific trade, stronger than those of physical geography
which means that physical geography makes with natural and exact sciences, as Table 6
more frequent use of the output of the other shows. The latter make more frequent use
sciences. The disciplines with which physical of the output of human geography than social
geography has the most adverse ‘trade bal- sciences of the output of physical geography.
ance’ include geology, palaeontology and The ‘trade balance’ in the relation between
human geography, while its most favourable the two geographical disciplines is in favour
‘trade balance’ is with ecology, remote sens- of human geography, which means that
ing, biology, and informatics. it makes more frequent use of the output
The analysis conducted supplies some of physical geography than the other way
arguments in the discussion of the dichoto- round. Both geographies also rely on their
my of geography (e.g. Lisowski 1996; Maik own works, with the proportion of citations
2004, 2008), because relations with other of a discipline’s own works in the total num-
disciplines are in many cases stronger ber of the articles cited in it being higher
than between the geographical disciplines. in human geography (15.3%) than in physical
The strength of the bi-directional relation geography (8.7%). This means that geography

120
natural and exact sciences social sciences
100
"Import"
strenght of the relation

"Export"
80

60

40

20

0
Transport
Physics

Mathematics
Informatics

Soil science

Remote sensing

Planning and development

Regional studies
Chemistry
Astronomy and astrophysics

Biology

Demography
Ecology

Oceanography
Geochemistry and geophysics

Geology

Sociology
Political science
Tourism and recreation

International relations
Pedagogy
Palaeontology
Physical geography

Economy

Psychology
Management science

History
Human geography

Figure 2. Relations of physical geography with other disciplines

Source: own compilation on the basis of the Web of Science database.

Geographia Polonica 2016, 89, 2, pp. 203-220

GP_2016_2.indb 215 2016-06-21 11:33:42

 216 Krzysztof Stachowiak • Artur Bajerski

Table 6. Average strength of the relation of geography with other disciplines (mean value of Pudovkin’s
index)

Physical geography Human geography

Group of disciplines
‘import’ ‘export’ ‘import’ ‘export
Natural and exact sciences 29.4 24.9 4.7 7.8
Natural and exact sciences 26.4 21.6 3.4 5.2
(without physical geography)
Social sciences 5.3 2.4 49.9 40.4
Social sciences 2.6 0.9 41.4 31.1
(without human geography)
Source: own compilation.

makes relatively little use of its own output. and exact sciences more often than physical
By comparison, in other disciplines such geography does on that of social sciences.
self-citation rates are: astronomy and astro- 5. In internal relations physical geography
physics, 74.4%; economy, 52.4%; chemistry, ‘imports’ more from of human geography
35.4%; ecology, 32.9%); pedagogy 32.5%; than it ‘exports’ to it.
geochemistry, 30.0%; and history, 29.8%. The above conclusions largely corroborate
those reached by Laffan (2010), who, using
a similar research procedure, also showed
Summing up and conclusions
that human geography and physical geogra-
The conducted analysis of relations of geog- phy were characterised by an adverse ‘trade
raphy with other disciplines can be summed balance’ in scientific exchange, and that
up as follows: human geography displayed higher ‘introver-
1. The position of geography among other sion’.
disciplines as measured by the impact fac- Finally, it is worth remembering that one
tor of scientific journals is not as low as can should be careful in the interpretation of the
be supposed. The relative position of human results, for several reasons, of which two seem
geography in social sciences is higher than to be the most significant. First, the results
that of physical geography in natural and of the analysis of the relations of geography
exact sciences, although works of the latter with other sciences presented in this article,
are generally cited more often. like the earlier empirical studies in this field,
2. Both geographical disciplines show concern primarily world geography, which
an adverse ‘trade balance’ in scientific is dominated by American and British geogra-
exchange, which means that they make more phers. As those earlier works have shown, the
frequent use of knowledge from other disci- proportion of authors from English-speaking
plines than the other way round. countries in the journals indexed in the Web
3. Human geography is more ‘introverted’, of Science database usually varies between
which means that it cites its own works more 70% and 90% (e.g. Guttiérrez & López-Nieva
often than physical geography. Even so, the 2001; Foster et al. 2007; Bański & Ferenc
use of a discipline’s own works is low in geog- 2013). The situation of geography in Poland
raphy as a whole when compared with other and other countries can differ from the
disciplines. one presented here, depending on the rela-
4. In human geography relations with tions between individual disciplines specific
other disciplines are stronger and link it with to each national system of sciences that have
a greater number of disciplines than in the formed over a long period of time.
case of physical geography. Also, human Secondly, the analysis revealed that this
geography draws on the output of natural type of research has to face some challenges.

Geographia Polonica 2016, 89, 2, pp. 203-220

GP_2016_2.indb 216 2016-06-21 11:33:42

 Relations of geography with other disciplines: A bibliometric analysis 217

Among them are different citation mecha- development of geography, also Polish geog-
nisms operating in social and natural scienc- raphy. Especially so that one can observe
es, hence also in human geography and physi- discrepancies between objective indices and
cal geography. In social sciences the diffusion subjective assessments of the role and posi-
of knowledge is slower than in natural ones. tion of geography in the system of sciences.
For example, in the case of articles from phys- Hence it would be desirable to continue
ics the first citations appear already a month this type of analysis and improve methods
or two after their publication, while for works of studying relations of geography with other
in economy, sociology or human geography disciplines, as well as those between the two
this period is a few years, with a citation peak geographical disciplines: physical and human.
sometimes a decade or several decades after
the publication (Foster et al. 2007). Besides, Acknowledgement
our analysis rested on articles published
in scientific journals and did not consider This research was supported financially
other modes of scholarly communication. But by the National Science Centre on the basis
in social sciences monographs play a greater of decision no. DEC–2011/03/D/HS4/01662.
role in communicating research results than
in natural sciences. Editors’ note:
Irrespective of those challenges, it seems Unless otherwise stated, the sources of tables and
that this type of research can supply argu- figures are the authors’, on the basis of their own
ments in the discussion about the state and research.

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© Krzysztof Stachowiak • Artur Bajerski Article first received • November 2015

© Geographia Polonica Article accepted • March 2016
© Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization
Polish Academy of Sciences • Warsaw • 2016

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