Mapping disability and climate change knowledge base in Scopus using bibliometric analysis

Area of Science:

• Interdisciplinary research at the nexus of climate change and disability studies.

Background:

• Climate change and disability are under-researched as a combined field.
• People with disabilities experience amplified vulnerability to climate change impacts.
• Existing climate change frameworks often exclude disability considerations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To map the existing body of research on disability and climate change.
• To identify novel approaches and propose a future research agenda.
• To foster disability-inclusive climate change knowledge creation.

Main Methods:

• Bibliometric analysis of Scopus-indexed articles.
• VOSviewer used for keyword and co-authorship mapping.
• Thematic-scoping review to augment bibliometric data.

Main Results:

• The discourse on disability and climate change has evolved from health concerns to human rights and social inclusion.
• Current research predominantly adopts mental health and medical sociology perspectives.
• Significant gaps exist in engaging diverse disability subgroups in climate change research.

Conclusions:

• There's a need to broaden research perspectives beyond mental health and medical sociology.
• Future research should actively involve various disability groups in co-creating knowledge.
• Integrating principles from the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and SDGs is crucial.