Intellectual authorities and hubs of Green Chemistry

Abstract

Abstract Green Chemistry is a self-organized movement of chemists intended to prevent and minimize the use and production of dangerous substances and processes. The current output and growing rate of the field hinders descriptive analysis of its contents, innovations (if any), and dynamics. Therefore, new methodologies must be sought. This research aims at broadening the understanding on the structure of Green Chemistry by pointing out its intellectual hubs (researchers important to the spread and consolidation of knowledge) and its intellectual authorities, the sources of that knowledge. Documents (N=14,142) either containing the term “green chemistry” or published in the Green Chemistry Journal and the Green Chemistry Letters and Reviews between 1990 and 2017 were analyzed by co-citation and network analysis. Sixteen clusters were grouped in six big specialties, from which 14 hubs and 21 authorities were found. Results corroborate previous analyses of the field, but this research has the advantage of stemming from the dynamics of scientific production, rather than from previously defined qualitative categories of the field itself.