Publications on snake biology

The trajectory of biological research may be affected by historical factors (such as the study species and locations of influential researchers) as well as by underlying biological dimensions (such as species diversity and location of potential study taxa). Such influences on research focus can be clarified by examining the topics of published papers. Based on 93,816 scientific papers published on snake biology since 1804 (from the Web of Science), we found a non-random distribution of research output among snake clades, fields of research, and geographic locations, and strong changes through time in overall research effort as well as in the foci of that work. Snakes are the subjects of more scientific papers than are other lineages of reptiles, but research on turtles has been increasing faster, and research effort per species is higher for smaller reptile lineages. Studies on systematics and taxonomy dominated snake research until the mid-20th century when this field was overtaken by studies of venoms, ecology, morphology, and physiology. Colubrids and vipers have been the most popular study taxa, reflecting a concentration of research in continents (Europe and the Americas) where these taxa are diverse and abundant. Research effort on vipers increased from around 1920, reflecting advances in antivenom and radiotelemetry technology. Blindsnakes and smaller Families remain relatively neglected in absolute terms. Numbers of papers per species are tenfold greater for North American and European snakes than in most other regions. We attribute these non-random patterns to temporal and spatial variation in research priorities, methodology, and the availability of scientific infrastructure.

Methods
Web of Science search for publications on snake biology. We searched the Web of Science (WoS) in March 2022 using snake Family names as the search terms, and the title, abstract, and keywords of each paper as the fields to be interrogated. All years from 1900 to 2022 were included. The nomenclature of snake Families has changed frequently over recent years so for simplicity, we treated each lineage as a Family even if it meant including “Families” that are often given subfamilial status within large lineages (e.g., we searched on “Pareidae” as well as the broader “Colubridae”). Likewise, we searched for “Hydrophiidae” and “Laticaudidae” even though modern literature relegates these groups to subfamilial status within the Elapidae. Papers that listed a group as a Subfamily rather than a Family would be captured in searches based on the more inclusive Family (in this case, Elapidae).

生物学研究的发展轨迹可能受到历史因素（如研究类群与知名研究者的研究地点）以及内在生物学维度（如物种多样性与潜在研究类群的分布区域）的影响。这类对研究重心的影响可通过检视已发表论文的主题加以阐明。基于Web of Science（Web of Science）数据库中1804年以来发表的93816篇蛇类生物学相关科学论文，本研究发现蛇类支系、研究领域以及地理区域间的研究产出呈现非随机分布特征，且整体研究投入与研究重心均随时间发生显著变化。
相较于其他爬行类支系，蛇类是更多科学论文的研究对象，但龟类相关研究的增速更快，且小型爬行类支系的单位物种研究投入更高。直至20世纪中期，蛇类研究始终以系统学与分类学研究为主导，此后该领域被毒液研究、生态学、形态学以及生理学研究所取代。游蛇科与蝰科类群一直是最受关注的研究类群，这反映出研究集中于该类群物种多样且数量丰富的大陆（欧洲与美洲）。蝰科类群的研究投入自1920年左右开始增长，这反映了抗蛇毒血清与无线电遥测技术的进步。盲蛇类与小型科类群从绝对数量上来看仍受关注相对不足。北美与欧洲蛇类的单位物种论文数量较大多数其他地区高出十倍。我们将这些非随机分布的模式归因于研究优先级、研究方法以及科学基础设施可及性在时间与空间上的差异。
研究方法
针对蛇类生物学相关文献的Web of Science检索。本研究于2022年3月在Web of Science（WoS）数据库中开展检索，以蛇类科名作为检索词，以每篇论文的标题、摘要与关键词作为检索字段，检索范围涵盖1900年至2022年的全部文献。
近年来蛇类科的命名法则频繁变动，为简化处理，本研究将每个支系均视为一个科，即便这意味着需要纳入通常在大支系中被归为亚科的类群（例如，本研究同时检索了“钝头蛇科（Pareidae）”与广义的“游蛇科（Colubridae）”）。同理，本研究同时检索了“海蛇科（Hydrophiidae）”与“扁尾海蛇科（Laticaudidae）”，尽管现代文献已将这两个类群归为眼镜蛇科（Elapidae）下的亚科。若某篇论文将某类群标注为亚科而非科，其也会被基于更广义科（此处为眼镜蛇科）的检索结果所涵盖。