Bibliographic analysis of the major research topic on sustainable development and security in developing countries

: The aim of this paper is to analyze the research in developing countries, sustainable development and security of the population. This paper provides a first temporal and content analysis of the available scientific research in developing countries. Today sustainable development strategies require further research and the promotion of the security in developing countries. The analysis identify research areas related to security of the population and associated with sustainable development, the health topic has a significant place. The results show that research on developing countries remains low but has a growing trend over time. Furthermore, sustainable development has a low interest in research (4%) in developing countries, while security studies are moderately important (17%). The research effort is insufficient and unbalanced in relation to the challenge to fight poverty. Therefore the proposals of Agenda 21, World Bank and Millennium Development Goals can be prejudicated in relation to sustainable development and fight against global poverty.


Introduction
Developed and developing countries are living in a difficult period due to the increasing of the population, the rapid urbanization and the environmental degradation in urban and rural areas (Uslu, Baris and Erdogan, 2009).In this regard, the Agenda 21 (1992) emphasizes that the humanity is in a turning point of the history, in which it faces the perpetuation of disparities between and within nations, a worsening of poverty, hunger, disease and illiteracy, and the continuing deterioration of the ecosystems form which we depend for our life.For several decades and releted to developed countries various authors posed the following question: sustainable development limited progress or can serve as an engine of progress injecting fresh air into a sick model?Ramos (1993) proposes this in numerous international forums since the 90s.Today, it is accepted that in developed countries the economic models are conditioned by environmental problems.In this sense, the growth periods "zero" and the economic downturn have boosted the promotion of sustainable development models to ensure to the future generations all resources and environmental safeguard.Over the decades, many trends such as green and ecological movements, sustainable development models, models of green urban planning have played an important role in this regard (Uslu, Baris, Erdogan, 2009).The term sustainable development was used for the first time in 1987, it defines what satisfies the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future generations (Brundtland, 1987).Some of the objectives of the United Nations MDGs are related to complex problems that would require the development of intensive research programs, such as the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, improve child and maternal health, combat disease and ensure sustainable development and the environment.These objectives have as common point the need to promote the safety and welfare of disadvantaged populations.In this regard, Garcia-Montero (2010) suggested as a prerequisite for implementing sustainable development policies, the need to promote research programs and models that ensure the safety of populations (food security, health, environmental risks, supply networks ...).Models of sustainable development are impossible in populations under "stress".Development policies must therefore incorporate training plans, technological tools and research programs necessary to optimize the security of populations, as a prerequisite to boost sustainable development models in poor countries.For the safety of the population is essential the public health, whose main objective is improving individual and collective health.The public health is focused on the development of protection, disease prevention and risk forecasting, through the implementation of services that are able to act as mediators in the relationship between man and man and between them and the their environment (Agenda 21, 1992).

Research Question
Starting from all these requirements is essential to analyze how it has developed the research in developing countries in recent decades, and to evaluate its potential impact on poverty reduction and security of their populations.To realize this analysis, the first objective of the study is to review the evolution of the bibliographic scientific research related to developing countries.The second objective is to develop a methodology to identify key research areas and issues on sustainable development and security of the population in developing countries.

Material and methods
1.It has been analyzed the scientific bibliography research associated with developing countries, through a systematic study using the database ISI Web of Knowledge (ISI Web Abridged) and Science Direct.2. The literature review is developed in successive stages of analysis.The first stage has used as a "keyword" "developing countries" to meet the temporal and content evolution of scientific research in developing countries.It has been used the international codes of areas of knowledge proposed by the UNESCO (1988) as a tool of analysis of the various research topics identified.Of the 51,519 research papers for developing countries, it has been identified 237 areas of content and it has been proposed a correspondence to 23 area codes of UNESCO, (for 4 areas it is not found an appropriate match and these have not been considered).(Table 2 and Annex XVII).3. -From all associated references to "developing countries", it has been applied a second bibliographic analysis using as new "keyword" "sustainable development", and it has been identifies the trend over time of bibliographic work associated to sustainable development in developing countries.4. -In the second phase it has been analyzed the research content of the works previously identified with "sustainable development for developing countries", and it has been classified the various areas identified with the international area code of the UNESCO (1988).Of the 1,429 research articles for sustainable development it has been identified 167 areas, included in the previous 237 areas.It has been proposed a correspondence to the area codes of UNESCO (for two areas it is not found an appropriate match and these have not been considered).They are grouped and added the 167 area contained in the 21 main UNESCO area (Table 3 and Annex XVIII). 5. -The third stage identified and analyzed the bibliographic research whose content can be associated with different topics relating to the security of the populations in developing countries.It has been used the "keyword" "security" in the previously identified articles of "sustainable development x developing countries".

Result 1 (research evolution of developing countries)
The literature review conducted shows a temporal evolution of the intensity (number of references) of research activity in "developing countries".From the ISI WEB database the first reference associated with "keyword" "developing countries" appeared in 1957.Starting from this date to 2009 there has been an increasing number of references associated with this "keyword" (Fig. 1).However, this trend is not constant.Figure 1 shows two periods of the research activity with different growth rates.The year between 1990-1991 is a "break year", because there is an increase of approximately twice the articles published in 1990 (591 references) compared to 1991 (1037 references) (Figure 2 and Annex I).Moreover, from ISI WEB has been observed that there are differences between countries regarding the research on "developing contries."Table 1 shows that countries are mostly engaged in this research are USA (29.79%),England (12.96%) and India (6.44%).1. Countries where it has been investigate in the field of "developing countries" in the period 1957-2009

Result 2 (research evaluation of areas in developing countries)
From the two periods 1957-1990 versus 1991-2009 the research areas in "developing countries", are different.The results show that there is an evolution in the research content analyzed (Table 2, Annex II and Annex III).In the period 1957-1990, the largest number of research papers is related to the area of "technological sciences" (24.97%), "political science" (16.88%) and "economic sciences" (11.16%).
All areas have increased in 1991-2009, but in relative term there has been a change in the order of importance.During this period the area "technological sciences" has increased in absolute number by 5.17 and now moves to the second position."Medical sciences" has the greatest importance and multiplied by 57.53 and now goes to first position."Earth and space sciences" is multiplied by 8.80 and passes in third.The area of "life sciences" with 6.92% of the references and is in fourth place, while "economic sciences" is multiplied by 4.07 and passes fifth position.In 1991-2009 disappeared "political science" that formerly stood in second place with 16.88% of the references and "sociology" that presented to 6.65% of the research.Table 2. Areas of evolution in "developing countries" in the period 1957-1990 and 1991-2009

Result 3 (research evolution of sustainable development in developing countries)
The first citation of "sustainable development" inside the research of "developing countries" appeared in 1989.From this date starts a continuous growing items associated with "sustainable development" (Figure 3 and Annex IV).However the number of bibliographic references that incorporate the concept "sustainable development" are a very small percentage of the research in "developing countries", which barely reaches a value of 4% of the total in 2009 (Figure 4 and Annex V ).During the year between 1989-1990 there are only four research papers of "sustainable development".While in 1991-2009 there are 1425 references.The largest number of jobs correspond to the area of "earth and space sciences" with a 27.92%, "technological sciences" with 22.02% and "economic sciences" with a 13.87 % ".While fewer jobs are related to the area of "life sciences" with a 8.92%, "agricultural sciences" with 7.14% and "medical sciences" with a 5.64% (Table 3 and Annex VI).Moreover, if we analyze the areas corresponding to literature reviews versus scientific articles related to the topic "sustainable development" (1991-2009), we get different results (Table 4 and Annex VII).The data show that the area "earth and space sciences" has priority in the literature review (22.22%), in second place "economic sciences" (21.67%), in third place "technological sciences" (13.33%) and in fourth "life sciences" (12.22%).Furthermore, the literature review presents a higher interest in the area of "agricultural sciences" (10%) and "medical sciences" (10.56%), which approximately are doubled in relative term regarding their interest in "sustainable development".

Result 5 (research evolution of security into sustainable development in developing countries)
In 2005-2009 the research reviews and scientific articles related "security" are the 16.97% of the "sustainable development" (Table 5 and Figure 5 ).The largest number of jobs related to the term "security" correspond to the area of "medical sciences" with 39.47% (Annex XIII) and the area of "agricultural sciences" with a 36.84%(Annex XII and Figure 6).While the fewer scientific papers are "earth and space sciences" (17.84%) (Annex VIII), "political science" (12.12%) (Annex XIV) "life sciences" (12.07%) (Annex XI) "technological sciences" (10.48%) (Annex IX) and "economic sciences" (9.41%) (Annex X).

Result 6 (research evolution of different areas of safety within sustainable development)
In the "sustainable development" research it has been identified 11 different areas dealing with "security": "health", "environment", "waste", "climate", "energy", "agriculture", "pollution "," water "," livelihoods "," safe "," livestock ". (Table 6,7, Figure 7,8 and Annexes VII-XIV).The most significant area is"health" with the 45.65% of the research.Related to the "health" topic it has been identified 10 different areas and"public health" is the most significant (Table 8 and Figure 9 and Annexes XV-XXI) .9) .But is increasing in the last twenty years.Since 1991, the number of published scientific articles about "developing countries" doubles approximately every 8.5 years on average.Taking into account the conclusions of Agenda 21 of the Rio de Janeiro World Conference (1992), the World Bank's work and objectives OMD these results appear very poor.
The fight against poverty is a shared responsibility of all countries (Agenda 21, 1992).No nation can achieve this on its own, but together we can reach higher results (Agenda 21, 1992).This analysis helps to identify research problems associated with poverty in "developing countries" to try to advance their resolution.Beween 1991-2009 the data has prioritized research on "medical sciences" (46.24%) and less than the other areas, including "agricultural sciences" (4.31%) (Figure 10). Figure 10 shows that there is an imbalance in the research carried out in different areas of knowledge during 1991-2009.Surprisingly the low percentage of articles are in agricultural area.It is necessary to deepen the content of these studies in order to evaluate and correct these imbalances.The research related to "developing countries" during the years between 2005-2009 (Figure 11), increases the disparity between "Medical Sciences" (53.34%) and "agricultural sciences" (2.97%).References related to "earth and space sciences" (15.85%) grow while decrease significant these related to "technological sciences" (6.86%).Is this research trend conforms to the fight against poverty?The increase difference between medicine and agriculture studies is too broad and can be dangerous in countries with food security problems depending from their own agricultural resources.Also the declining interest of technology it is a problem in a situation where it would be necessary to bring innovations to introduce sustainable tools and techniques with low-cost.In the studies related to "developing countries", the research on "sustainable development" has been very limited (a total of 1420 references from 1991 to 2009).But it growths in recent decades and the number of references are doubled approximately every 3.5 years on average since 1991.Establishing a sustainable economies and markets in developing countries is one of the world's objectives to be addressed if we want protect people and the biosphere.(Garcia-Montero, 2010).Human beings are at the center of concerns for sustainable development.They have the right to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature (Agenda 21, 1992).
Results of the analysis of the knowledge areas associated with "sustainable development" in 2005-2009 (Figure 12) are very different from the results obtained from "developing countries".Figure 11 shows that references of "earth and space sciences" are doubled compared with those of "developing countries"."Earth and Space Science" promotes the study of the environment, which is a consistent trend of Agenda 21 and it indicates that the protection of the environment should be an integral part of the process of sustainable development (Agenda 21, 1992).In the period between 2005-2009 "agricultural sciences" has a significant position more than that occupied in the analysis of "developing countries" during the same period.While "medical sciences" is less important (Figures 11 and 12).The fight against poverty must be included in the model of sustainable development.Between 2005-2009, studies associated with "sustainable development" have prioritized the topic "earth and space sciences" (Figure 12).Furthermore, the differences between the number of references from different areas of knowledge associated with "sustainable development" are lower than in the case of "developing countries" (Figure 11).Thus, in 2005-2009, research on "sustainable development" has been more balanced than the research conducted on "developing countries" (Figures 11 and 12). 1.

Conclusions
The research associated with developing countries began to increase continuosly from1991 (with a minimum of 1037 articles), and from this date, the number of scientific references have doubled every nine years to reach the maximum production per year of 4714 references in 2009, an extremely low number in global research.This research effort is clearly insufficient to combat poverty, and also analyzing the areas of knowledge associated with the references shows that this is a research effort that is unbalanced in relation to its contents.In the references associated with developing countries, the work involved in sustainable development represent a maximum of 4% of the references, although their number is doubling every four years.Moreover, the security of the poorest populations is a prerequisite for promoting sustainable development models in poor countries.However, within the set of references associated with sustainable development in developing countries, research on issues related to the safety of the people is only 17% of articles between 2005 and 2009, and its distribution areas knowledge is unbalanced.The most important issue in the area of security of populations have been health related articles.The first results in this literature review indicate that patterns of international research on developing countries may be compromising the proposals of Agenda 21 in Rio de Janeiro (1992), the World Bank's work and objectives OMD relation to sustainable development and the fight against global poverty.

Figure 1 .Figure 2 .
Figure 1.Time trends of scientific research for "developing countries" in the period 1957-2009

Figure 3 .Figure 4 .
Figure 3.Time trends in scientific research "sustainable development" in the period 1989-2009

Figure 11 .
Figure 11.Percentage of UNESCO code areas in "developing countries" in 2005-2009

Figure 12 .
Figure 12.Percentage of UNESCO code areas in "sustainable development" in 2005-2009

Table 4 .
Areas in percentage of literature review of "sustainable development" in the period 1991-2009

Table 5 .
Areas of "sustainable development" addressed to "security" in 2005-2009 Figure 5. N° articles in "sustainable development" addressed to the content of "security" in 2005-2009 Figure 6.Percentage of "security" articles, on "sustainable development", for each content area UNESCO, in 2005-2009