mapping the landscape of rural development research: a bibliometric and...

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Mapping the landscape of rural development research:

A bibliometric and visual analysis

Ph.D. candidate：Ying Lu

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Ir. Walter de Vries

Dubrovnik, 09.05.2018

2nd International Doctoral Seminar in the field of Geodesy, Geoinformatics and Geospace

1. Definition of rural development

2. Research questions

3. Methodology

4. Empirical results

5. Discussion and conclusion

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Table of contents

2nd International Doctoral Seminar in the field

of Geodesy, Geoinformatics and Geospace

Ph.D. candidate：Ying Lu, Chair of Land Management, Technical University of Munich Dubrovnik, 09.05.2018

Over the last decades, the concept of “rural development” has been widely discussed in

academic literature.

• “Rural Development is a strategy designed to improve the economic and social life of a specific

group of people – the rural poor.”（World Bank Sector Paper on Rural Development，1975)

• Rural development “refers to a distinct approach to interventions by the state.” (Harris, 1982)

• “Rural development as a multi-level, multi-actor and multi-facetted process.” (Van der Ploeg et al,

2000)

However, there is a growing realization that it would not be possible to generate a

universally accepted definition of it.

The concept of rural development has been evolving, reflecting both the dramatic

transformation occurring in the rural economics, environment and societies and the shifting

goals of different groups of actors.

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Definition of rural development




What is “rural development”?

What can we learn about “rural development” from a literature review?

• What are the main topics or the main research fields of rural development?

• How do these topics or these fields relate to each other?

• How has rural development research developed over time?

This study aims to demonstrate the changing landscape of rural development research

through a systematic quantitative literature review.

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Research questions




Bibliometric analysis

Bibliometric analysis is to perform quantitative analysis to study publications and written

communications.

Science mapping

Science mapping, as a supported procedure of bibliometrics, provides a spatial

representation of the structures of networks and allows us to discover the “hidden”

relationships and developments of knowledge clearly.

Software tools:

HistCite™

CiteSpace

VOSviewer

Map and Alluvial Generator

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Methodology






Search strategy：the enclosed phrase “rural development” in

titles, abstracts, and keywords

timespan: 1945-2017

document types: articles

Complementary data retrieval

The citation records vary from 1 to 163.

1697 articles that have a citation record

more than 5

Data pre-processingduplicate elimination and misspelling

examination

Data source：Web of Science (WoS)

Dataset1:

4911 articles

with 156,182 cited references

Dataset2:

780 articles that are not initially

included in Dataset1

DatasetALL:

5645 articles

6Ph.D. candidate：Ying Lu, Chair of Land Management, Technical University of Munich Dubrovnik, 09.05.2018

Dataset for bibliometric analysis

Units of analysis

Publication dates, journals, subject categories, documents, cited references, keywords

Analysis methods

Co-occurrence analysis

If two items appear in the same context, they are related to some degree.

Subject Category co-occurrence analysis, Keyword co-word analysis

Co-citation analysis

If two documents are both cited by a third one, they are related in some way.

Journal co-citation analysis, Article co-citation analysis

Network analysis

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Methodology




Yearly output from 1965 to 2017

The first article was found in 1965. A continuous and explosive increase since 1985.

Limitation of this study

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Empirical results




Journal co-citation network

128 journals in 29 clusters

Top 10 highly cited journals

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Cluster Journal Count Centrality

2Journal of Rural

Studies1281 0.12

3 World Development 1146 0.4

5 Sociologia Ruralis 1005 0.15

8 Land Use Policy 620 0.1

2Environment and

Planning A618 0.04

4American Journal of

Agricultural Economics551 0.15

1 Ecological Economics 507 0.12

1 Science 479 0.05

9 Geoforum 466 0.06

1

Agriculture,

Ecosystems & Environment

435 0.02

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Subject category co-occurrence network

57 subject categories

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Cluster Category Count Centrality

2 AGRICULTURE 1173 0.42

2 FORESTRY 187 0.01

2 AGRONOMY 164 0.02

2 ENERGY & FUELS 120 0.04

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3ENVIRONMENTALSCIENCES & ECOLOGY

1333 0.25

3ENVIRONMENTALSTUDIES

812 0.06

3ENVIRONMENTALSCIENCES

623 0.09

3 ECOLOGY 282 0.04

3 URBAN STUDIES 93 0.01

3BIODIVERSITY &CONSERVATION

42 0.01

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57 subject categoriesCluster Category Count Centrality

4 BUSINESS & ECONOMICS 1030 0.12

4 ECONOMICS 908 0.09

4AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS &POLICY

344 0.12

4 FOOD SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 113 0.01

4 MANAGEMENT 44 0.02

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5 ENGINEERING 95 0.09

5WATERRESOURCES

43 0.02

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6 AGRICULTURE, MULTIDISCIPLINARY 514 0.03

6 SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY - OTHER TOPICS 249 0.08

6GREEN & SUSTAINABLE SCIENCE &TECHNOLOGY

172 0.03

6 SOCIAL SCIENCES - OTHER TOPICS 168 0.06

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An alluvial flow visualization of subject categories

Agriculture

Business&Economics

Environment

Agricultural Economics& Policy

Planning&Development

Geography

Green&Sustainable

Public Administration

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Keyword co-word network

Top 80 keywords

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20





0 0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8 1 1,2

china

india

bangladesh

asia

latin america

africa

developing country

united states

uk

europe

european union

Countries and regions

1990-1994 1995-1999 2000-2004 2005-2009 2010-2014 2015-2017

0 0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8 1 1,2 1,4

network

farmer

family

farm

community

organization

institution

region

state

globalization

Levels and actors

1990-1994 1995-1999 2000-2004 2005-2009 2010-2014 2015-2017

0 0,5 1 1,5 2 2,5

conservation

ecosystem service

biodiversity

environment

tourism

diversification

pluriactivity

food security

food

agriculture

Functions and activities

1990-1994 1995-1999 2000-2004 2005-2009 2010-2014 2015-2017

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Article co-citation network

1583 highly cited articles

and top 36 clusters

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C Title Period C Title Period

21 Rural 1984-19983,4

Alternative and local food network

1999-2015

7Farm

household1986-1997 2 Multifunctional 2000-2010

23 UK 1987-1998 29Agri-environment

scheme2001-2011

6 Governance 1990-2001 10 Agri-food industry 2001-2012

1 Food 1991-2002 19 Land grab 2004-2013

36 Globalization 1993-2000 11Farm

diversification2004-2017

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Agri-

environmental

policies

1994-2002 15 Local food 2006-2014

25 Population 1994-2003 22 Bioenergy 2007-2012

20 Organic 1997-2006 18 China 2007-2015

13,16

LEADER program

1997-2013

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Cluster Title Period

28 Participatory 1986-1997

17 Grassroots & NGOs 1987-1995

9 Farmers & NGOs 1990-1996

5 Social capital 1992-2002

8 Social-ecological system 1996-2008

Cluster Title Period

12 Environment & NGOs 1978-1988

24 Decentralization 1983-1990

26 Regional 1986-1992

31 Participatory Rapid Appraisal 1988-1993

33 Regional migration 1988-1993

30 Landcare in Australia 1992-199632 Indicator of sustainable agriculture 1993-2001

27 Gender 1994-2001

34 Environmental services & poverty 2002-2008

35 Institutions 2002-2008

“Rural development as a multi-level, multi-actor and multi-facetted process.”

(Van der Ploeg et al, 2000)

• Multi-level：from global, national level to local level?

• Multi-actor: network?

• Multi-facetted: farm diversification?

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Discussion and conclusion




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References

Harris, J., ed. (1982) Rural Development: Theories of Peasant Economies and Agrarian Change. World

Bank. Hutchison Publishing Group, London.

Van der Ploeg, J.D., Renting, H., Brunori, G., Knickel, K., Mannion, J., Marsden, T.K., De Roest, K.,

Sevilla-Guzmán, E., Ventura, F. (2000) Rural development: from practices and policies towards

theory, Sociologia Ruralis, 40(4), 391–408.

World Bank (1975) Rural Development: Sector Policy Paper. World Bank, Washington, DC.

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Thank you!Questions, comments and feedback are welcome




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