The scholar's best friend: research trends in dog cognitive and behavioral studies

Abstract

In recent decades, cognitive and behavioral knowledge in dogs seems to have developed considerably, as deduced from the published peer-reviewed articles. However, to date, the worldwide trend of scientific research on dog cognition and behavior has never been explored using a bibliometric approach, while the evaluation of scientific research has increasingly become important in recent years. In this review, we compared the publication trend of the articles in the last 34 years on dogs' cognitive and behavioral science with those in the general category "Behavioral Science". We found that, after 2005, there has been a sharp increase in scientific publications on dogs. Therefore, the year 2005 has been used as "starting point" to perform an in-depth bibliometric analysis of the scientific activity in dog cognitive and behavioral studies. The period between 2006 and 2018 is taken as the study period, and a backward analysis was also carried out. The data analysis was performed using "bibliometrix", a new R-tool used for comprehensive science mapping analysis. We analyzed all information related to sources, countries, affiliations, co-occurrence network, thematic maps, collaboration network, and world map. The results scientifically support the common perception that dogs are attracting the interest of scholars much more now than before and more than the general trend in cognitive and behavioral studies. Both, the changes in research themes and new research themes, contributed to the increase in the scientific production on the cognitive and behavioral aspects of dogs. Our investigation may benefit the researchers interested in the field of cognitive and behavioral science in dogs, thus favoring future research work and promoting interdisciplinary collaborations.

Keywords: Behavior; Behavioral science; Bibliometrix; Cognition; Dog; Science mapping.

Fig. 1

Comparative view of the annual scientific production related to cognitive studies on dogs (black line) and the trend of publication rate of research in the subject category “Behavioral Sciences” (gray line; for an obvious comparison, the line has been lowered 100 folds). It is evident that increasing trend in research on dogs starts from 2005

Fig. 2

Thematic map showing clusters and the KeyWords Plus from 1993 to 2005 (“earlier analysis”) identified by the co-occurrence network. The X axis represents the centrality (i.e. the degree of interaction of a network cluster in comparison with other clusters) and gives information about the importance of a theme. The Y axis symbolizes the density (i.e. measures the internal strength of a cluster network, and it can be assumed as a measure of the theme’s development). Accordingly, the first quadrant identifies motor themes (i.e. well developed and important themes for the structuring of a research field); in the second quadrant are plotted highly developed and isolated themes (i.e. themes of limited importance for the field); the third quadrant contains emerging or declining themes (i.e. themes weakly developed and marginal); in the fourth quadrant falls basic and transversal themes (i.e. they concerns general topics that are transversal to different research areas of the field)

Fig. 3

Thematic map showing clusters and the KeyWords Plus from 2006 to 2018 (“recent analysis”) identified by the co-occurrence network. The X axis represents the centrality (i.e. the degree of interaction of a network cluster in comparison with other clusters) and gives information about the importance of a theme. The Y axis symbolizes the density (i.e. measures the internal strength of a cluster network, and it can be assumed as a measure of the theme’s development). Accordingly, the first quadrant identifies Motor themes (i.e. they are well developed and important for the structuring of a research field); in the second quadrant tare plotted highly developed and isolated themes (i.e. they are of limited importance for the field); the third quadrant contains emerging or declining themes (i.e. they are weakly developed and marginal); the fourth quadrant includes basic and transversal themes (i.e. themes concerning general topics transversal to different research areas of the field)

Fig. 4

World map showing research collaborations among countries from 1993 to 2005 (“earlier analysis”). Brighter blue color indicates a higher collaboration rate. Countries with less than three shared papers are not shown by connectors

Fig. 5

World map showing research collaborations among countries from 2006 to 2018 (“recent analysis”). Brighter blue color indicates a higher collaboration rate. Countries with less than three shared papers are not shown by connectors