Indonesia's Rising Position in Global Botanic Garden Research: A Bibliometric Analysis of Productivity, Collaboration and Research Themes
This bibliometric analysis reveals that while Indonesia's contribution to global botanic garden research has surged significantly in the last decade, climbing to fifth place worldwide, this rapid productivity growth has coincided with a notable decline in international collaboration compared to global trends.
Original paper licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This is an AI-generated explanation of the paper below. It is not written or endorsed by the authors. For technical accuracy, refer to the original paper. Read full disclaimer
Imagine a giant, global library where every botanic garden in the world keeps a diary of its discoveries. These aren't just pretty places with flowers; they are high-tech laboratories, nature's safety vaults, and classrooms all rolled into one. Scientists use these gardens to save rare plants from disappearing, study how they grow, teach the public about nature, and even figure out how to keep our planet healthy. To understand how well different countries are doing at writing these scientific diaries, researchers use a tool called "bibliometrics." Think of bibliometrics as a super-powered magnifying glass that counts every article written, tracks who wrote it, and maps out who is talking to whom. It's like checking the scoreboard of a global science game to see which teams are scoring the most points and which ones are playing solo.
Now, why should you care? Because the plants in these gardens are the backup drives for life on Earth. If we lose them, we lose the keys to medicine, food security, and a stable climate. Knowing which countries are stepping up to protect these plants helps us understand where the world's conservation efforts are heading. This story is about a specific player in this global game: Indonesia. For a long time, Indonesia's voice in this specific scientific conversation was quiet, but something dramatic has happened recently, and a new study has pulled back the curtain to reveal the full picture.
The Plot Twist: Indonesia's Rocket Ship and the Missing Passport
This paper is a deep dive into the scientific output of botanic gardens, comparing the whole world against Indonesia. The author, Irfan Habiburrahman, acted like a detective sifting through millions of records in a massive database called Scopus. He looked at two time periods: the "all-time" history (going back to 1861) and the "recent decade" (2016 to 2025). He wanted to see how Indonesia's performance had changed compared to the rest of the globe.
Here is the big news: Indonesia has suddenly become a heavyweight champion in botanic garden research.
In the "all-time" history, Indonesia was sitting in 11th place among all countries publishing on this topic. But zoom in on the last ten years, and the plot twists. Indonesia's ranking skyrocketed to 5th place, jumping ahead of giants like Germany, Italy, and Brazil. It's as if a small team suddenly started scoring more goals than the traditional powerhouses. The speed of this growth is staggering. While the whole world's research output grew by about 8.60% per year recently, Indonesia's output exploded at a rate of 14.47% per year.
To put it in perspective, before 2016, Indonesia was responsible for less than 1% of all the world's botanic garden papers (specifically 0.67%). By the time we reached 2025, that share had jumped more than tenfold to 7.00%. It's like a small shop that used to sell one apple a day suddenly becoming the biggest fruit seller in the entire city.
The Paradox: More Books, Fewer Friends
But here is where the story gets a little weird, and the paper highlights a strange contradiction. Usually, when a country starts producing more research, it also starts working more with other countries. It's like a musician who gets famous and starts jamming with bands from around the world.
However, the data shows the opposite happened in Indonesia. While the rest of the world increased its international teamwork from about 21% to 24%, Indonesia's international collaboration actually dropped from 25% down to 13.5%.
The paper suggests this might be a "paradox." It seems that as Indonesia's research engine revved up—fueled by new government policies and the creation of a national research agency called BRIN—the researchers started working more locally and less globally. They are writing more papers, but they are writing them with fewer international partners. The study notes that this isn't necessarily a bad thing in terms of quantity, but it does mean Indonesia is becoming a bit more isolated in the global conversation, even as it becomes louder.
What Are They Actually Writing About?
The paper also looked at the topics of these papers. Globally, scientists have been shifting from just naming new plants (taxonomy) to worrying about big modern problems like climate change and how plants react to weather.
Indonesia is following this trend but with a local flavor. The most common words in Indonesian papers are "conservation," "Bogor Botanic Gardens," and specific island names like "Java" and "Sulawesi." It's as if the global team is discussing the future of the entire planet, while the Indonesian team is deeply focused on saving the specific plants in their own backyard.
Interestingly, the paper found that Indonesian researchers are writing about "tourism" much more than the rest of the world. While the global average for tourism-related papers is around 4-8%, Indonesia's is over 10%. It seems Indonesian scientists are paying close attention to how to get people to visit these gardens and enjoy nature. On the flip side, both Indonesia and the world are writing very little about "education," suggesting that teaching the public might be an area that needs more attention everywhere.
The Bottom Line
This study doesn't claim to have solved every problem or proven exactly why the collaboration dropped, but it paints a clear picture: Indonesia has rapidly become a top-tier player in botanic garden science, climbing from 11th to 5th place in just a decade. However, this success story comes with a warning sign. The country is producing a massive amount of research, but it's doing so with fewer international friends than before.
The paper suggests that for Indonesia to truly shine on the global stage, the next step isn't just writing more papers, but making sure those papers are part of a global conversation. It's a call to keep the momentum going but to open the doors wider, ensuring that the surge in local research also leads to stronger connections with the rest of the world.
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