Green roof research is a multidisciplinary and new research area. We conducted a bibliometric quantification to assess the rate of publications in specific areas of research for this novel research area based on the scientific literature as available from the Web of Science. Bibliometric research can provide valuable information about changes in the trends within a particular area of research. For example, we found that the number of publications in this field increased in the last two decades at very similar pace to other pre-established academic disciplines. We also found that papers on green roofs were classified into 32 research areas. There was very little change in the frequency of most research areas through time. The percentages of plant sciences, forestry, marine and freshwater biology and biodiversity conservation of the total research areas classifications used each year increased significantly with time, while architecture decreased significantly with time signifying an increased interest in environmental issues and less focus on architectural issues. The distribution of publications between countries has been skewed, with the USA and the EU conducting 66% of the research, and thus allocation of research effort is focused in those continents and predominantly in temperate ecosystems. However, there has been a sharp increase in the number of countries that conduct green roof research. Our work provides a suite of indicators that can be combined to give a useful picture of the development of green roof research and identifies the challenges which lie ahead for this novel research area.
Bibliographical noteFunding Information:
This study was funded by the Kadas Green Roofs Ecology Research Center at the University of Haifa . We are grateful to the very useful comments of two anonymous reviewers.
- Landscape ecology
- Living roof
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Environmental Engineering
- Civil and Structural Engineering
- Geography, Planning and Development
- Building and Construction