Development Tendencies of Forest Management Research in Taiwan as Exemplified by TFRI's Publications in the Last 50 years

The study aims at analyzing the relationships between the research tendency and human resources in terms of forest management subject of Taiwan Forestry Research Institute (TFRI) from 1947 to 2000 by means of adopting bibliometrics and sociometrics. There were 165 papers regarding forest management completed within the period, equivalently 15% of the amount of TFRI’s total papers published. Quantitatively, these researches were mostly focused on traditional forest management, forest economics and forest planning, but less concentrated on forest policy and forest recreation. Generally speaking, the papers still stressed on the core concepts of traditional forest management such as timber production or plantation management; however, new issues from the viewpoints of ecology and society emerged in the last decade. Since TFRI is suffered from the shortage of manpower, the minority of researchers who have high academic productivity usually dominate its performance in forest management subject. The study also indicates that the faster the turnover of researchers, the more the innovation and diffusion of research concepts.

本研究采用文献计量学与社会计量学方法，旨在分析1947年至2000年间台湾林业试验所（Taiwan Forestry Research Institute，TFRI）林业管理学科的研究动向与人力资源之间的关联。此期间该所共计完成165篇林业管理相关论文，占其总发表论文量的15%。量化分析结果显示，此类研究多聚焦于传统林业管理、森林经济学与森林规划领域，而对森林政策及森林游憩的关注度相对偏低。总体而言，相关论文仍以木材生产、人工林经营等传统林业管理核心议题为主，但近十年间涌现出了生态学与社会学视角下的新兴研究议题。鉴于台湾林业试验所面临人力资源短缺的困境，少数学术产出效率较高的研究人员往往主导了该所在林业管理学科领域的研究表现。本研究同时表明，研究人员的更替速率越快，研究理念的创新与传播也就越频繁。