Bibliometric analysis of isotopic studies on Quaternary megafauna available in the Scopus database

FRANÇA, LUCAS DE M.; DANTAS, MÁRIO ANDRÉ T.; ARAÚJO-JÚNIOR, HERMÍNIO ISMAEL DE

doi:10.1590/0001-3765202220211404

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PALEONTOLOGY • An. Acad. Bras. Ciênc. 94 (suppl 3) • 2022 • https://doi.org/10.1590/0001-3765202220211404 copy

Bibliometric analysis of isotopic studies on Quaternary megafauna available in the Scopus database

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Abstract

The number of isotopic studies on Quaternary megafauna has increased over the last decades, yet, there is no published data addressing the status of scientific production of this research field. The present study shows the results of a bibliometric research carried out in the Scopus database where the publishing trends within this scientific field was analyzed using the open source software tool SciMAT. We retrieved 278 papers published from 1980 to 2019 and observed that a significant increase in publishing has mainly occurred in the last decade analyzed here. We also identified some of the field´s most influential articles and journals; recognized that carbon, oxygen and nitrogen isotopes are the most used markers in these studies; and that the most cited taxa are representatives of Equidae, Bovidae and Proboscidae. Also, Paleoecology is the basic thematic area, whereas Climate and Paleoenvironmental Changes is the one with the greatest development potential. Our results clearly show that the isotopic study on Quaternary megafauna is still under development and that some subjects could be further explored, such as analyzing more taxa within Carnivora, Pilosa, Notoungulata, Cetartiodactyla and Perissodactyla as well as using other less frequent stable isotope markers, such as strontium, calcium and hydrogen.

Key words
megafauna; Quaternary; isotopes; scientific production; bibliometry

Journal	1980-1989	1990-1999	2000-2009	2010-2019	Total number of articles	5 year IF (2020)
Palaeo3	1	7	13	34	55	3.469
Quaternary International	0	1	3	25	29	2.480
Quaternary Science Reviews	0	0	2	21	23	5.07
Quaternary Research	1	4	7	6	18	2.720
Journal of Human Evolution	0	0	1	11	12	3.753

Authors	Title	Journal	Year	TC
Koch et al.	The effects of sample treatment and diagenesis on the isotopic integrity of carbonate in biogenic hydroxylapatite	Journal of Archaeological Science	1997	567
Lee-Thorp & van der Merwe	Carbon isotope analysis of fossil bone apatite.	South African Journal of Science	1987	303
Bocherens et alBOCHERENS H, BILLIOU D, MARIOTTI A, PATOU-MATHIS M, OTTE M, BONJEAN D & TOUSSAINT M. 1999. Palaeoenvironmental and Palaeodietary Implications of Isotopic Biogeochemistry of Last Interglacial Neanderthal and Mammal Bones in Scladina Cave (Belgium). J Archaeol Sci 26: 599-607..	Diet, physiology and ecology of fossil mammals as inferred from stable carbon and nitrogen isotope biogeochemistry: implications for Pleistocene bears	Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology and Palaeoecology	1994	238
Bocherens et al.	Isotopic biogeochemistry (¹³C, ¹⁸O) of mammalian enamel from african pleistocene hominid sites	Palaios	1996	229
Bocherens et al.	Paleobiological Implications of the Isotopic Signatures (¹³C, ¹⁵N) of Fossil Mammal Collagen in Scladina Cave (Sclayn, Belgium)	Quaternary Research	1997	208
Koch et al.	Oxygen isotope variation in the tusks of extinct proboscideans: a measure of season of death and seasonality	Geology	1989	185
Koch et al.	The isotopic ecology of late Pleistocene mammals in North America Part 1. Florida	Chemical Geology	1998	167
Hoppe et al.	Tracking mammoths and mastodons: Reconstruction of migratory behavior using strontium isotope ratios	Geology	1999	165
Bocherens et al.	Palaeoenvironmental and palaeodietary implications of isotopic biogeochemistry of last interglacial neanderthal and mammal bones in Scladina Cave (Belgium)	Journal of Archaeological Science	1999	164
MacFadden & Cerling	Mammalian herbivore communities, ancient feeding ecology, and carbon isotopes: A 10 million-year sequence from the neogene of Florida	Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology	1996	164

Rank	Groups of words	Number of documents	Rank	Groups of words	Number of documents
1	Pleistocene	160	16	Equidae	50
2	Mammal	149	17	Climatic change	45
3	Stable isotopes	148	18	Nitrogen isotopes	45
4	Carbon isotope	127	19	Herbivores	44
5	Paleoecology	93	20	Fossil record	42
6	Diet	84	21	Collagen	40
7	Paleoenvironment	81	22	Bone	39
8	Oxygen isotope	77	23	Extinction	38
9	Enamel	71	24	Paleontology	36
10	Isotopic analysis	69	25	Bovidae	32
11	Paleoclimate	68	26	United States	31
12	Animals	64	27	Poaceae	29
13	Fossil	61	28	Equus	28
14	Tooth	55	29	Bison	25
15	Isotopic composition	53	30	Ungulates	25

Period	Cluster	Number of documents	Number of citations	Centrality range	Density range
1980-1999	Pleistocene	17	1809	1	0.75
	Oxygen-isotope	8	1326	0.75	0.5
	Paleoclimate	7	446	0.25	0.25
	Carbon-isotope	14	1694	0.5	1
2000-2009	Mammal	22	1268	1	0.56
	Pleistocene	18	1046	0.89	0.89
	United States	15	956	0.78	0.67
	Stable isotope	20	1245	0.33	1
	Eurasia	13	728	0.22	0.78
	Carbon isotope	16	932	0.44	0.44
	Quaternary	8	569	0.11	0.11
	Isotopic analysis	17	858	0.67	0.22
	Diet	15	1009	0.56	0.33
2010-2019	Stable isotopes	44	586	1	0.62
	Diet	52	1042	0.92	0.54
	Mammal	35	613	0.85	0.77
	Enamel	50	674	0.77	0.85
	Pleistocene	42	721	0.69	0.69
	Carbon isotope	37	783	0.62	0.92
	Fossil	24	228	0.23	1
	Climatic change	34	595	0.46	0.23
	Paleoenvironment	29	450	0.38	0.38
	Isotopic analysis	24	392	0.31	0.31
	Bone	28	484	0.15	0.15
	Fossil record	19	228	0.08	0.08
	Paleoecology	34	578	0.54	0.46

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[1] Correspondence to: Lucas de Melo França E-mail: lucasmfranca@hotmail.com