Scientometric review of the literature about genetic resources access and benefit sharing under the Convention on Biological Diversity: Current research and future directions

We conducted a scientometric on the United Nations’ Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) access to biological resources and benefit sharing (ABS) literature using the Scopus database. There were 723 publications by 2,225 authors broadly related to this topic of which 150 publications by 395 researchers focus on the topic. The literature reflected by keyword choices was diverse in disciplines (eg., social sciences, biological sciences), forms (eg., articles, books, and so on), journals/publishers, authors/affiliations, and themes. Significantly, the vast majority of authors (about 70%) only authored one publication. The literature divided between publications about complying with ABS as a regulatory hurdle to doing science, or on ABS examining social, legal and policy aspects of regulation. While the CBD is focussed on conservation and sustainable development, the literature was focused on a diversity of social, legal and policy debates. We highlight the importance of future research on ABS addressing conservation per se.

_{Lawson, C, Pickering, C.. (2021). “Scientometric review of the literature about genetic resources access and benefit sharing under the Convention on Biological Diversity: Current research and future directions”. Journal of Science and Law, 7(1): 1-30. doi:10.35005/daen-sd52}