Lagging – publication trends in Afrotropical vultures

Abstract

Publication trends covering Afrotropical vultures over the six decades 1950-2009 are examined. Overall, from a low base in the 1950s, there was a rapid acceleration in publications through the 1960s to the 1980s, followed by relative stagnation in the 1990s, after which publication rates again accelerated. The Cape Vulture Gyps coprotheres shows the most marked stagnation in publication rate in recent decades, especially relevant to a unique and marked peak in the 1980s. Publication rates covering the Afrotropical populations of the Egyptian Neophron percnopterus and Bearded Gypaetus barbatus vultures are increasingly lagging behind those of the extralimital (Eurasian) populations of these species. Growth in publications on the Afrotropical population of the Bearded Vulture evidences particular sluggishness recently. There are strong indications that publications, and hence likely research effort and perhaps even conservation action, on Afrotropical vultures are falling ever further behind those on vultures elsewhere in the Old World.

Keywords: Afrotropics, literature, references, vultures