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Analysis of institutional authors

Gonzalez-Avila, SergioCorresponding AuthorLopez-Leiva, CesarAuthorElena-Rossello, RamonAuthor

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Changes and drivers in Spanish landscapes at the Rural-Urban Interface between 1956 and 2018

Publicated to:Science Of The Total Environment. 714 (136858): 136858- - 2020-04-20 714(136858), DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.136858

Authors: Gonzalez-Avila, Sergio; Lopez-Leiva, Cesar; Bunce, Robert G H; Elena-Rossello, Ramon

Affiliations

Estonian Univ Life Sci, EE-51014 Tartu, Estonia - Author
Univ Politecn Madrid, MONTES Sch Forest Engn & Nat Environm, Ecol & Sustainable Forest Management Res Grp ECOG, Madrid, Spain - Author

Abstract

This paper presents unique comprehensive quantitative measures of the changes in Spanish rural landscapes, specifically in relation to the Rural-Urban Interface (RUI). Our objective was to investigate the urbanisation process in rural areas of Spain, thus the expansion of the RUI in an environmentally complex study area (it includes arid regions, continental areas or high mountains). The data were produced by the Spanish Rural Landscapes Monitoring System project (SISPARES), which has carried out five separate surveys for 1956, 1984, 1998, 2008 and 2018. SISPARES data provide RUI quantification by identifying urban patches, using aerial images, in a permanent network of 206 stratified random landscape sampling units (4 x 4 km each) deliberately located in rural areas. The cost-effective and spatio-temporal SISPARES approach enables the production of landscape geographical models at each survey date and the modelling of its evolution over each time period. We hypothesised that the RUI expansion did not follow a homogeneous spatio-temporal pattern, and therefore neither did the drivers responsible for it. Building on SISPARES data, we evaluated through CART analyses the relationship of RUI expansion with relevant environmental and anthropogenic driving factors, such as climate, bedrock, landscape composition and human population density. The historical narrative perspective was also used to aid discussion of the results. Historically. Spain contained few areas of RUI, but major changes were determined in the initial study period (1956-1984), which conformed a seminal geographic pattern for subsequent RUI increment. In contrast, the RUI expansion did not increase greatly during the following periods, between 1984 and 2018. The RUI expansion has been primarily driven by anthropogenic factors, constrained by the environmental characteristics of Spain. The expansion pattern is likely to has shifted from a national scale in the 1950s, to a continental scale at later dates as the result of the changes in socio-political scenarios. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords

cartenvironmental stratalandscape monitoringruisisparesCartCoverDriving forcesDynamicsEnvironmental strataEvolutionLand-useLandscape monitoringPortugalRuiSisparesUrbanisation processUrbanization

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Science Of The Total Environment due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2020, it was in position 25/274, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Environmental Sciences. Notably, the journal is positioned above the 90th percentile.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from the Field Citation Ratio (FCR) of the Dimensions source, it yields a value of: 5.35, which indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: Dimensions Jun 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-06-13, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 20
  • Scopus: 19
  • Google Scholar: 22
  • OpenCitations: 16

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-06-13:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 46.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 46 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 2.7.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 3 (Altmetric).

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Estonia.

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (GONZALEZ AVILA, SERGIO) and Last Author (ELENA ROSSELLO, RAMON).

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been GONZALEZ AVILA, SERGIO.