Statistical analysis of a scientific discipline: palynology

Abstract Percentages are determined which demonstrate the positions the various sub-disciplines of palynology take up in present-day palynological literature. Also calculated is the language distribution of modern palynological literature. The subdisciplinary composition is found to be different for each of the major languages. Based on a large-scale statistical analysis of palynological publications which appeared during the fifty year period 1916–1965, trends are outlined relating to the annual output of scientific papers, the usage of the various languages in scientific communication, and mutual relationships between the various palynological subdisciplines. The percentage of professional literature in various languages which is consulted by palynologists working in the different language areas has been determined by analyzing lists of references accompanying scientific papers and by means of questionnaires sent to the authors of said papers. In each of the four major language areas (English, Russian, French, German), the highest percentage of literature consulted is that which is written in the vernacular; in the French, German and Russian language areas, English assumes the second place. Elsewhere in the world the order of importance of the various languages for scientific palynological communication generally is: English, German, French, the native language, and Russian. If a comparison is made between the linguistic distribution of scientific literature consulted by older and younger palynologists, it appears that the use of English-language literature is increasing, whereas the importance of German and French as international scientific languages is decreasing, although this trend had not yet extended to all parts of the world. Except in the U.S.S.R., geological palynologists consult more literature in other languages than palynologists with a biological background. Within the palynological community as a whole, the proportion of palynologists with a geological orientation is increasing. The increase in the percentage of scientific papers which have appeared under multiple authorship is presumably due mainly to increased team work. This percentage has in an interdisciplinary field, like geophysics, always been higher than in a more traditional discipline, such as geology. For palynology, the figures are close to those for geology.