Abstract
Risk communication is a significant research domain with practical importance in supporting societal risk governance and informed private decision making. In this article, a high-level analysis of the risk communication research domain is performed using scientometrics methods and visualization tools. Output trends and geographical patterns are identified, and patterns in scientific categories determined. A journal distribution analysis provides insights into dominant journals and the domain’s intellectual base. Thematic clusters and temporal evolution of focus topics are obtained using a terms analysis, and a co-citation analysis provides insights into the evolution of research fronts and key documents. The results indicate that the research volume grows exponentially, with by far most contributions originating from Western countries. The domain is highly interdisciplinary, rooted in psychology and social sciences, and branching mainly into medicine and environmental sciences. Narrative themes focus on risk communication in medical and societal risk governance contexts. The domain originated from public health and environmental concerns, with subsequent research fronts addressing risk communication concepts and models. Applied research fronts are associated with environmental hazards, public health, medical risks, nuclear power, and emergency response to various natural hazards. Based on the results, various avenues for future research are described.
Highlights
Risk communication is an essential aspect of risk management and governance
The results indicate that risk communication research is primarily located in the ‘Psychology and Social Sciences’ scientific domain
The results show that some narratives are rather robust in the risk communication research
Summary
Risk communication is an essential aspect of risk management and governance. In the ISO 31000 standard for organizational risk management by the International Organization for Standardization [1], risk communication is part of the ‘communication and consultation’ activity of the risk management process, with the primary aims to promote awareness and understanding of risks. Not without its critics [2,3] and notwithstanding ongoing work to define its conceptual basis [4], this standard is very influential across industrial domains as a platform for sharing best practices and as a catalyst for professionalization of risk management [5,6]. The need for risk communication is highlighted, for instance, in supply chain risk [7], maritime oil spill preparedness and response [8], firefighting [9], and mining safety [10]. Public Health 2020, 17, 3255; doi:10.3390/ijerph17093255 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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