The impact of geographical bias when judging scientific studies

The beauty of science lies within its core assumption that it seeks to identify the truth, and as such, the truth stands alone and does not depend on the person who proclaims it. However, people's proclivity to succumb to various stereotypes is well known, and the scientific world may not be exceptionally immune to the tendency to judge a book by its cover. An interesting example is geographical bias, which includes distorted judgments based on the geographical origin of, inter alia, the given work and not its actual quality or value. Here, we tested whether both laypersons (N = 1532) and scientists (N = 480) are prone to geographical bias when rating scientific projects in one of three scientific fields (i.e., biology, philosophy, or psychology). We found that all participants favored more biological projects from the USA than China; in particular, expert biologists were more willing to grant further funding to Americans. In philosophy, however, laypersons rated Chinese projects as better than projects from the USA. Our findings indicate that geographical biases affect public perception of research and influence the results of grant competitions.

Exploring the U-shape geographical bias in manufactured exports of MERCOSUR countries

We proposed a novel approach to understand the industrialization pattern of MERCOSUR countries during the last 60 years. We performed an index to measure the geographical bias of manufactured exports between the region and the world and showed that regional trade agreements allowed MERCOSUR countries to decrease the bias and increase competitiveness. However, we noted that in recent years the bias deepened in favor of exporting a higher proportion of manufactured goods to the region. Our main result is that these economies present a U-shape geographical bias in manufactured exports associated with a bimodal distribution of breaks. Furthermore, we observed that the 1980s and 2000s were the most relevant periods for defining the region trends.

Systematic literature review on computable general equilibrium applications in tourism

Assessment of the economy-wide impacts of tourism has increased importance due to the unprecedented impacts of COVID-19. Computable general equilibrium (CGE) approach is a versatile tool for estimating the economy-wide impacts of tourism, as opposed to alternative general equilibrium approaches and partial equilibrium approaches. However, there has not been any systematic review done on CGE applications in tourism literature. The article reviews CGE applications in tourism over the past 25 years using a systematic quantitative literature review approach. This review presents potentially important applications of CGE models in guiding post-COVID tourism. Further, the article highlights the new developments in CGE modelling, which are yet to be adopted in tourism economics. Existing studies show a strong geographical bias. Notable research gaps exist in the areas of poverty, inequality, gender, environmental and the climate change impacts of tourism. Future research in these areas will be vital to effectively guide post-COVID tourism recovery.

Population Studies at 75 Years: A scientometric review

For 75 years, the journal Population Studies has advanced research on key substantive demographic topics of fertility, mortality, family, migration, and beyond to contributions in methods, and policy. Yet we lack a systematic and rigorous scientometric review that evaluates how research topics have evolved and by whom has authored them. We review all papers (N=1,901) and authorship contributions (N=3,267) published in the journal between 1947 and 2020. Our techniques employ natural language processing, social network analysis, and a novel mixed-method approach to incorporate un-supervised machine learning models conjoint with qualitative coders. After a brief history of the journal we show that authorship and articles have evolved over time, with a shift to shorter and multi-authored articles, with 34\% female authorships and skewed gender ratios in certain topics. The majority of articles have covered fertility, mortality and family research, studying groups, time and change, with topics expanding and waning in prevalence over time. Children are rarely studied and if examined, in relation to infant mortality or sex-preferences of parents. Research on women focuses on family planning and contraception, fertility decline, unions and divorce, whereas men’s domains are migration, historical demography (war, famine) and employment. Geographical bias is also present with family planning examined in Africa and Asia and fertility decline in North American and Europe. Our results inform policy for hiring and tenure committees and identify research gaps relevant for editors, funders and researchers.

Using Sentinel-2 Images to Estimate Topography, Tidal-Stage Lags and Exposure Periods over Large Intertidal Areas

Intertidal areas provide key ecosystem services but are declining worldwide. Digital elevation models (DEMs) are important tools to monitor the evolution of such areas. In this study, we aim at (i) estimating the intertidal topography based on an established pixel-wise algorithm, from Sentinel-2 MultiSpectral Instrument scenes, (ii) implementing a set of procedures to improve the quality of such estimation, and (iii) estimating the exposure period of the intertidal area of the Bijagós Archipelago, Guinea-Bissau. We first propose a four-parameter logistic regression to estimate intertidal topography. Afterwards, we develop a novel method to estimate tide-stage lags in the area covered by a Sentinel-2 scene to correct for geographical bias in topographic estimation resulting from differences in water height within each image. Our method searches for the minimum differences in height estimates obtained from rising and ebbing tides separately, enabling the estimation of cotidal lines. Tidal-stage differences estimated closely matched those published by official authorities. We re-estimated pixel heights from which we produced a model of intertidal exposure period. We obtained a high correlation between predicted and in-situ measurements of exposure period. We highlight the importance of remote sensing to deliver large-scale intertidal DEM and tide-stage data, with relevance for coastal safety, ecology and biodiversity conservation.

Global Trends of Usage of Chlorophyll Fluorescence and Projections for the Next Decade

Chlorophyll fluorescence is the most widely used set of techniques to probe photosynthesis and plant stress. Its great versatility has given rise to different routine methods to study plants and algae. The three main technical platforms are pulse amplitude modulation (PAM), fast rise of chlorophyll fluorescence, and fast repetition rate. Solar-induced fluorescence (SIF) has also gained interest in the last few years. Works have compared their advantages and their underlying theory, with many arguments advanced as to which method is the most accurate and useful. To date, no data has assessed the exact magnitude of popularity and influence for each methodology. In this work, we have taken the bibliometrics of the past decade for each of the four platforms, have evaluated the public scientific opinion toward each method, and possibly identified a geographical bias. We used various metrics to assess influence and popularity for the four routine platforms compared in this study and found that, overall, PAM currently has the highest values, although the more recent SIF has increased in popularity rapidly during the last decade. This indicates that PAM is currently one of the fundamental tools in chlorophyll fluorescence.

Birthing across borders: ‘Contracting’ reproductive geographies

Within a context of intensifying global displacement, the experience of birthing across borders is becoming a reality for many. We catch incomplete glimpses of these realities through countless media snapshots of pregnant bodies in dinghies crossing seas or slung with metallic emergency-blankets. Despite their prevalence, these birthing experiences have not been adequately accounted for in the scholarship on reproductive geographies. In this article, we argue that this relative absence is not a mishap but reflects a deeper geographical bias. The present article seeks to address this gap and has three main aims: first, to provide a deeper understanding of heterogenous reproductive lives, especially as they relate to questions of displacement and precarious citizenship. Second, to offer new participatory and creative methods for understanding these reproductive lives in contexts of acute but also protracted violence. Third, to develop a conceptual language of ‘contraction’ to help grapple with some of the inequities but also mobilities and solidarities across diverse geographies. Finally, foregrounding questions of displacement, this article brings into sharp relief the geopolitics of reproduction and how biopolitical governance is being both experienced and resisted through what Katz calls the ‘messy fleshy stuff of everyday life’ in too-often invisibilised liminal spaces.