The Citation Relationships between Journals of Geography and Cognate Disciplines

There is an ongoing debate concerning the relationship between the disciplinary ends of the broad spectrum that is geography and also the relationship between geography and other disciplines, including the extent to which it is self-focussed or inward looking. These issues were assessed using an analysis of citation relationships between journals in the Thompson Scientific Journal Citation Reports databases at the category level. Thirty-four categories were used, comparing the two geography categories (‘Geography’, representing human geography and ‘Geography, Physical’, representing physical geography) with 32 other cognate categories. A matrix of the citation relationships between each category was developed using a relatedness factor that corrects for the opportunity for citations to occur. The resultant matrix of factors indicates that human geography journals are considerably more likely to cite their own papers than are those of physical geography, but that they are by no means the most self-citing of the journals assessed. Both human and physical geography journals have strong citation relationships with several other disciplines, with those for human geography most often being net export relationships in the sense of a balance of trade. This finding contradicts previous assertions that human geography imports more than it exports. The citation relationships of physical geography are smaller than those of human geography, and are typically small net imports. The relationship between human and physical geography journals is a small net export from physical geography to human geography, but their total trade volume is considerably smaller than their respective relationships with other disciplines. These results are likely to be caused by many factors in addition to the actual relatedness between disciplines and sub-disciplines, but they do represent a benchmark against which more detailed analyses can be assessed.     

Feminism,Praxis, and Human Geography

In this paper, we discuss the methodological implications of combining feminist and geographic research. In feminist research efforts, theory, method, and purpose of research are inextricable. We examine the meaning of this blending for the language, conceptualizations, methods, and scale used in feminist geographic research. Through feminist geographic research, we can build a continuity of women and men as feminist writers inside the academy and in the community. The goal of this more inclusive research and knowledge is the transformation of gendered power relations.     

Space-Time, 'Science' and the Relationship between Physical Geography and Human Geography

This paper explores the possibility that there may be commonalities between physical geography and human geography in emerging ways of conceptualizing space, time and space-time. It argues that one of the things holding physical and human geography apart for so long has been their relationship to physics as an assumed model of 'science'. It is proposed here that not only is this an inadequate model of science but that it has led us astray in our inherited conceptualizations of both time and space. The urge to think 'historically' is now evident in both physical and human geography. The paper argues that this both forms the basis for a possible conversation and also obliges us to rethink our notions of space/space-time.     

The Forgotten Semantics of Regression Modeling in Geography

This article is concerned with the semantics associated with the statistical analysis of spatial data. It takes the simplest case of the prediction of variable y as a function of covariate(s) x, in which predicted y is always an approximation of y and only ever a function of x, thus, inheriting many of the spatial characteristics of x, and illustrates several core issues using “synthetic” remote sensing and “real” soils case studies. The outputs of regression models and, therefore, the meaning of predicted y, are shown to vary due to (1) choices about data: the specification of x (which covariates to include), the support of x (measurement scales and granularity), the measurement of x and the error of x, and (2) choices about the model including its functional form and the method of model identification. Some of these issues are more widely recognized than others. Thus, the study provides definition to the multiple ways in which regression prediction and inference are affected by data and model choices. The article invites researchers to pause and consider the semantic meaning of predicted y, which is often nothing more than a scaled version of covariate(s) x, and argues that it is naïve to ignore this.     

Economic Geography as Dissenting Institutionalism: The Embeddedness, Evolution and Differentiation of Regions

This paper endorses recent pleas for an ‘institutional turn’ within economic geography. In particular, it reveals and connects the coherence and distinctiveness of dissenting institutional economics as a way of thinking for economic geography. Economic geographers have recognized this tradition but its continuity and compass is not fully appreciated. To provide such an appreciation, this paper argues that the paradigmatic distinctiveness of dissenting institutionalism rests especially on its recognition that real world economies are embedded, have histories or evolve, and are different. The discussion is based around these three cornerstone principles of embeddedness, evolution and difference. For the future, greater attention to the region as an institution, albeit a complex one, along with greater attention to the synthesis of multi‐dimensional processes that are normally analyzes as separate conceptual categories, is encouraged.     

我国中学人文——经济地理教育的演变

本文由以下五个方面阐述了我国中学人文-经济地理教育的演变:1.课程设置的变化;2.人地关系理论思维的转变;3.知识结构的变化;4.思想品德教育的深化:5.教学思想的转变。主要变化是课程设置不单独开设人文-经济地理课程,而将其内容与自然地理综合到区域地理和系统地理之中,以人地关系协调论的观点指导课程和教材;以环境、资源、人口问题为中心组织区域地理和系统地理的教学内容,加强爱国主义、国情教育、国际意识、环境意识、全球观念的思想教育;注意发展学生的智力和能力。     

Results and Prospects of the use of Mathematical Methods in Economic Geography

A review of the use of mathematical techniques in Soviet geography finds that the new methods are an essential tool in the application of systems theory to geographical problems. Mathematical techniques are held to have the greatest promise in the investigation of space (topology), the study of large systems (set theory, general systems theory) and research on complex relationships between phenomena with a certain randomness (linear algebra, polylinear algebra, probability theory). The use of mathematical techniques should be combined with traditional methods in geography, and instead of replacing the traditional geographical methodology, mathematics may be expected to strengthen that methodology. A real need is seen for a set of basic axioms in geography, and mathematics is expected to play a significant role in this connection. Mathematical models have proved useful in the investigation of particular spatial structures, such as population density within cities and the location of service establishments. But problems have been encountered in the modeling of territorial production systems.     

Geography and Human Settlements in Ancient Southern Arabia

The use of remote sensing in archaeological research leads to a better understanding of the geography of ancient and modern South Arabia. The five main regions are discussed in relation to the conditions for settlement and farming. A case study from the heartland of the Kingdom of Awsān indicates in the lower part of Wādī Marha beginning of irrigation in the second half of the third millenium and an end already in the first half of the first millenium BC. The huge tell of Hǎar Yahirr seems to have been destroyed at the same time, whereas in the upper part of the wadi irrigation and settlements continue till the first centuries AD. On aerial pictures a dozen ancient settlements could be detected and located. Consequently, it may be suggested that Hǎar Yahirr is the site of the capital city of Awsān. The capitals of the ancient South Arabian kingdoms were all located along the most frequented camel route, the incense road. A comparison of the climatic conditions and the irrigation agriculture of Arabia Felix and the Fertile Crescent shows the difficulties of the transfer of know-how between these two fertile and rich regions on the Arabian Peninsula.