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This research was funded by the COST Action CA16219 HARMONIOUS-Harmonization of UAS techniques for agricultural and natural ecosystems monitoring. H.A. is supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), within the framework of the National Research Programme Sustainable Economy: resource-friendly, future-oriented, innovative (NRP 73), in the InnoFarm project, Grant-Nffi 407340_172433. K.J., Y.M. and M.F.M. were supported by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology.
Analysis of institutional authors
Juan Arranz, JoseAuthorCurrent Practices in UAS-based Environmental Monitoring
Publicated to:Remote Sensing. 12 (6): 1001- - 2020-03-01 12(6), DOI: 10.3390/rs12061001
Authors: Tmusic, Goran; Manfreda, Salvatore; Aasen, Helge; James, Mike R; Goncalves, Gil; Ben-Dor, Eyal; Brook, Anna; Polinova, Maria; Juan Arranz, Jose; Meszaros, Janos; Zhuang, Ruodan; Johansen, Kasper; Malbeteau, Yoann; de Lima, Isabel Pedroso; Davids, Corine; Herban, Sorin; McCabe, Matthew F
Affiliations
Abstract
With the increasing role that unmanned aerial systems (UAS) are playing in data collection for environmental studies, two key challenges relate to harmonizing and providing standardized guidance for data collection, and also establishing protocols that are applicable across a broad range of environments and conditions. In this context, a network of scientists are cooperating within the framework of the Harmonious Project to develop and promote harmonized mapping strategies and disseminate operational guidance to ensure best practice for data collection and interpretation. The culmination of these efforts is summarized in the present manuscript. Through this synthesis study, we identify the many interdependencies of each step in the collection and processing chain, and outline approaches to formalize and ensure a successful workflow and product development. Given the number of environmental conditions, constraints, and variables that could possibly be explored from UAS platforms, it is impractical to provide protocols that can be applied universally under all scenarios. However, it is possible to collate and systematically order the fragmented knowledge on UAS collection and analysis to identify the best practices that can best ensure the streamlined and rigorous development of scientific products.
Keywords
Quality index
Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel
The work has been published in the journal Remote Sensing 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 27/200, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Geosciences, Multidisciplinary.
This publication has been distinguished as a “Highly Cited Paper” by the agencies WoS (ESI, Clarivate) and ESI (Clarivate), meaning that it ranks within the top 1% of the most cited articles in its thematic field during the year of its publication. In terms of the observed impact of the contribution, this work is considered one of the most influential worldwide, as it is recognized as highly cited. (source consulted: ESI Nov 14, 2024)
And this is evidenced by the extremely high normalized impacts through some of the main indicators of this type, which, although dynamic over time and dependent on the set of average global citations at the time of calculation, already indicate that they are well above the average in different agencies:
- Normalization of citations relative to the expected citation rate (ESI) by the Clarivate agency: 5.55 (source consulted: ESI Nov 14, 2024)
- Weighted Average of Normalized Impact by the Scopus agency: 10.42 (source consulted: FECYT Feb 2024)
- Field Citation Ratio (FCR) from Dimensions: 35.25 (source consulted: Dimensions Jul 2025)
Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-07-09, the following number of citations:
- WoS: 147
- Scopus: 173
Impact and social visibility
Leadership analysis of institutional authors
This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Hungary; Israel; Italy; Morocco; Norway; Oman; Portugal; Saudi Arabia; Serbia; Switzerland; United Kingdom.