Insect Trends Over 60 Years
According to an article in American Entomologist, there have been noticeable publishing changes about insects over the past 60 years.
Over the last decade, termite researchers at the University of Florida found that entomology articles have steadily increased.
“A myrmecologist in 1959 had to screen through 1.5 ant publications per week to keep up with the current literature,” they wrote. “This increased to 5.2 ant publications per week in 1974. In 2009, the same myrmecologist must scan 34.9 ant publications per week.”
In the late 1970’s entomological articles were published by-
- 55% single author
- 28% two authors
- 17% three of more authors
By the late 2000’s, entomological articles were published by-
- 31% single author
- 24% two authors
- 45% three or more authors
There are four possible factors that could explain this change:
- Collaboration was needed to take on projects with broad implications
- Entomologists are no longer naturalists and want to be experimental scientists
- Increased competition in academia
- Entomology has become multidisciplinary
Authors predict that these trends will continue and the number of articles will increase with even more citations.
