Abstract
Human perturbation of natural systems is accelerating the emergence of infectious diseases, mandating integration of disease and ecological research. Bats have been associated with recent zoonoses, but our bibliometric analysis of coauthor relationships identified a separation of bat ecologists and infectious disease researchers with few cross-disciplinary relationships. Of 5,645 papers, true interdisciplinary collaborations occurred primarily in research focused on White Nose Syndrome (WNS). This finding is important because it illustrates how research with outcomes favoring both bat conservation and disease mitigation promotes domain integration and network connectivity. We advocate for increased engagement between ecology and infectious researchers to address such common causes and suggest that efforts focus on leveraging existing activities, building interdisciplinary projects, and networking individuals and networks to integrate domains and coordinate resources. We provide specific opportunities for pursuing these strategies through the Bat One Health Research Network (BOHRN).
Highlights
SARS-CoV-2 threatens both human and bat health, but advancing the missions of bat conservation and public health protection has seemed, to many, to conflict, hampering the integrative research needed to characterize and mitigate disease emergence
To investigate cross-disciplinary collaboration between ecological- and infectious diseaseoriented bat researchers, we undertook a bibliometric analysis of coauthor relationships
Consistent with the divisions observed between ecology, veterinary, and other professionals working in a broader One Health context [3], our analysis revealed a clear boundary between authors representing disease- and ecologyfocused disciplines in bat research (Fig 1) and distinct clusters within disciplines
Summary
SARS-CoV-2 threatens both human and bat health, but advancing the missions of bat conservation and public health protection has seemed, to many, to conflict, hampering the integrative research needed to characterize and mitigate disease emergence. To investigate cross-disciplinary collaboration between ecological- and infectious diseaseoriented bat researchers, we undertook a bibliometric analysis of coauthor relationships.
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