Researching Climate Change: Trends in U.S. Government Publications

Abstract

Data from government publications is a major information sources for United States citizens. How scientific issues such as climate change are portrayed in federal documents affect how citizens are educated about science. This study looks at government publications on climate change and explores trends of publishing by types of documents, which agencies are publishing information on climate change, and how these trends have changed over time.

The scope of the project will examine publications by eight federal agencies and the U.S. Congress in various formats from 1970 to 2007 and documents found on current and historical agency websites are included in the coverage of the study. Preliminary results show a greater concentration of works on climate change in the 1990s followed by a period of decline at the turn of the century, with a dramatic increase in the past couple of years.

The study analyzes how climate change has been treated by various federal agencies over several decades. Publications are analyzed by agency, author, and publishing dates. More in depth evaluation of publications involves how the issue of climate change is addressed in the publication, by looking at subject matter such as the causes of, or solutions for, climate change.

Full article at http://www.istl.org/09-fall/refereed4.html