New paper by NexSys researchers finds that very small proportion of paper abstracts in top energy journals are policy-relevant
Within the top 100 journals covering energy research between 2010 and 2023, only a small proportion – 15% – of the abstracts contained policy-relevant statements, finds a new paper published in (opens in a new window)Energy Research & Social Science.
When dealing with climate change, communicating research beyond academia is crucial. By engaging with policy issues, researchers can help policymakers and society-at-large reach climate targets, and further climate policies. Despite this, researchers still face dilemmas when it comes to communicating policy-relevant findings.
The new paper, co-authored by (opens in a new window)NexSys (Next Generation Energy Systems) researchers Associate Professor Dr Stefan Müller and Robin Rauner, who are based in UCD’s (University College Dublin) School of Politics and International Relations, combines bibliometrics and computational text analysis of over 270,000 article abstracts published between 2010 and 2023 in the top 100 journals that cover energy according to (opens in a new window)SCImago Journal Rankings.
The authors found that publications on energy and net-zero have soared since 2010, largely due to an increase in the number of contributions by authors based in Asian institutions and intercontinental collaborations.
During the same time period, within abstracts that included policy-relevant statements, content on implementation and renewable energy has declined, while the focus on energy systems and emissions has gradually increased, the study reveals.
The authors also identified geographical differences, with authors from affiliations in Asia showing the lowest policy relevance while driving growth in the overall volume of publications.
Commenting on the findings, Robin Rauner, researcher at NexSys based in UCD’s School of Politics and International Relations and co-author on the study, said: “It is interesting to see how the sheer volume of literature on energy and net zero has increased over the past decade. I think this underscores the potential of text analysis, machine learning, and Artificial Intelligence to offer insights into big-picture questions like how researchers are engaging with topics that can lead to impact beyond academia.”
The authors hope that their findings can help to foster collaboration between academics and policymakers, and improve policy engagement activities.
This work was supported by NexSys (Next Generation Energy Systems), a Research Ireland (SFI) Strategic Partnership Programme, and the UCD Ad Astra Start Up Grant.
The paper’s authors are: Dr Brian Boyle, based in the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology at Newcastle University, and previously at NexSys, Dr Yen-Chieh Liao, based in the School of Government at the University of Birmingham and previously at NexSys, Sarah King, based in UCD’s School of Politics and International Relations, Robin Rauner and Associate Professor Dr Stefan Müller, both based in UCD’s School of Politics and International Relations and NexSys.
About NexSys
Next Generation Energy Systems (NexSys) is an all-island, multidisciplinary energy research programme. NexSys is hosted by the UCD Energy Institute in partnership with eight other leading research institutions. 46 leading academics work in partnership with industry to tackle the challenges of energy decarbonisation, developing evidence-based pathways for a net zero energy system. For further information, see: (opens in a new window)https://www.nexsys-energy.ie/