Using Text-mining Method to Identify Research Trends of Freshwater Exotic Species in Korea.

Abstract

We identified research trends for freshwater exotic species in South Korea using text mining methods in conjunction with bibliometric analysis. We searched scientific and common names of freshwater exotic species as searching keywords including 1 mammal species, 3 amphibian-reptile species, 11 fish species, 2 aquatic plant species. A total of 245 articles including research articles and abstracts of conference proceedings published by 56 academic societies and institutes were collected from scientific article databases. The search keywords used were the common names for the exotic species. The 20th century (1900’s) saw the number of articles increase; however, during the early 21st century (2000’s) the number of published articles decreased slowly. The number of articles focusing on physiological and embryological research was significantly greater than taxonomic and ecological studies. Rainbow trout and Nile tilapia were the main research topic, specifically physiological and embryological research associated with the aquaculture of these species. Ecological studies were only conducted on the distribution and effect of large-mouth bass and nutria. The ecological risk associated with freshwater exotic species has been expressed yet the scientific information might be insufficient to remove doubt about ecological issues as expressed by interested by individuals and policy makers due to bias in research topics with respect to freshwater exotic species. The research topics of freshwater exotic species would have to diversify to effectively manage freshwater exotic species.