The influence of the systems approach on recent production in physical geography and geomorphology

Abstract

Since the middle of the 20th century, the systems approach has consolidated itself as a methodological trend in scientific production across different research areas, from Prigogine’s studies in thermodynamics to Bertalanffy’s work in biology. It would be no different with physical geography and geomorphology, which have records contemporary to those of other sciences. The aim of the present study was to outline a general overview of the influence of the systems approach in physical geography and geomorphology through bibliometric analysis. This research was conducted using the Web of Science database, considering scientific articles and other documents published between 1900 and 2020. The search routines included keywords with a direct or indirect relationship to the systems approach within the research area of physical geography and the topic of geomorphology. The bibliometric analysis indicated an increase in scientific production related to the systems approach in geomorphology and physical geography from the second half of the 20th century. Specifically, methodological advances in both research areas were influenced by contemporary ideas under an interdisciplinary perspective. However, there is a conceptual distance between the use of terms related to the systems approach and their meanings in most of the published documents, either due to the absence of a theoretical framework related or due to divergences in the definition and application of concepts. Thus, the results of this research contribute to the debate about the use of transdisciplinary concepts by physical geography and geomorphology, while providing a historical panorama of the evolution of a methodological framework in the disciplines (which is essentially diverse in terms of research problems and methods used).