Analysis of Scholarly Discourse in Biosecurity from 1986-2020

Abstract

Scholarly discourse in Biosecurity is complex and interdisciplinary. The term Biosecurity has different meanings depending on the discipline. This term most often strives to capture efforts to prepare for and respond to threats posed by infectious organisms1. Increasing complexity of discourse in this interdisciplinary field and lack of common definitions can pose communication challenges. We use text mining of scholarly articles to characterize the interdisciplinary field of Biosecurity and the uses of this term over the past 35 years; a context evolution model is built to describe major changes in this field, and it shows a progression toward health security in recent years. Understanding the shifts in discourse predominance helps to illuminate the major challenges facing biosecurity research and academic community, and contributes to enhancing communication across disciplines within the Biosecurity field.