Alignment between United Nations Environmental Assembly Guidance and National Research Priorities

Abstract

This study analyzes the alignment between (1) the scientific publications generated within a nation-state, and (2) the United Nations resolutions on climate change research and sustainable development guidelines to which that nation-state is a signatory. Starting with a characterization of Chile’s modern scientific journal output using extensive scientometrics databases, this work contrasts the resulting Chilean analysis with United Nations (UN) resolutions generated at the fifth UN Environment Assembly held in Nairobi in March of 2022. Chile is an interesting choice because the most recent political election installed an environmentally progressive president who has described his administration as the “first ecological government in the history of Chile”. Chile also held a constitutional referendum shortly after the presidential election that would have replaced the existing constitution from 1980 with a more progressive constitution designed to shift the country towards expanded social and environmental rights. The study covers different dimensions and scales, from the interaction of authors, institutions, and disciplines, to the current conditions regarding authors’ gender and the co-author inertia existing in every niche of scientific publication in Chile. The results and recommendations presented in this paper are intended to assist in developing policies for improved scientific–technical knowledge management at the national level.