ABSTRACT
The fourth International Polar Year (fourth IPY, officially 2007–08) took place from 2007 to 2009. The reason for the two-year span was to allow sufficient time to cover both the Arctic and the Antarctic during the most accessible seasons in those regions. In conjunction with this global event, Dag W. Aksnes and Dag Olav Hessen, in a study funded by the Research Council of Norway, explored the structure of, and recent developments in. polar research activities in the Nordic countries. 1 Based on a bibliographic study of published papers indexed in the ISI Web of Science for the period 1981–2007, they analysed trends in publication, scientific disciplines and subdisciplines, co-authorship and international collaboration in the field of polar research. Their rationale was:
Polar research is a field of growing interest to the scientific community and the public alike. There is a broadening awareness of the importance of the Polar Regions in relation to climate change, natural resources and geopolitical issues. The Nordic countries have long traditions of doing research in the Arctic and the Antarctic. 2
