The medium is the message… Also, in the academy? Exploring the influence of environment policy think tanks

This research aims to analyze how think tanks influence scholars’ academic debate. Specifically, the influence strategies followed by think tanks specialized in environmental policy through funding scientific articles in high-impact academic journals are examined. Articles published between 2008 and...

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Main Authors: Vanessa Roger-Monzó, Fernando Castelló-Sirvent
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2025-04-01
Series:Frontiers in Political Science
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Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpos.2025.1522697/full
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author Vanessa Roger-Monzó
Fernando Castelló-Sirvent
author_facet Vanessa Roger-Monzó
Fernando Castelló-Sirvent
author_sort Vanessa Roger-Monzó
collection DOAJ
description This research aims to analyze how think tanks influence scholars’ academic debate. Specifically, the influence strategies followed by think tanks specialized in environmental policy through funding scientific articles in high-impact academic journals are examined. Articles published between 2008 and 2023 (n = 3,502) in scientific journals indexed in Journal Citation Reports (JCR) according to the Science Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) and Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) were analyzed. Their impact was assessed in terms of number of citations (n = 124,933) and Normalized Impact per Year (NIY). Two sub-periods were constructed, before and after the start of the 2030 Agenda, to analyze the academic influence strategies of think tanks specialized in the study area, analyzing co-funding strategy and the most notable changes in the areas of interest and preference for funding think tanks. VOSviewer 1.6.20 was used to analyze the corpus of scientific publications in both periods. The results suggest that think tanks use financing for scientific research to boost their presence and influence in the academic debate. This trend intensified after the start of the 2030 Agenda, and several think tanks detected co-financing strategies. This exploratory study represents a novelty in the literature on the academic influence of think tanks. The main contribution of this article is to propose an analysis methodology that can be replicated in other areas of study and to offer evidence on the impact strategies of think tanks in the academic debate.
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spelling doaj-art-5ef5be54a6714971a8229a7ee00fddd32025-08-20T03:17:44ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Political Science2673-31452025-04-01710.3389/fpos.2025.15226971522697The medium is the message… Also, in the academy? Exploring the influence of environment policy think tanksVanessa Roger-Monzó0Fernando Castelló-Sirvent1Department of Language Theory and Communication Sciences, University of Valencia, Valencia, SpainDepartment of Business Management, Universitat Politècnica de València, Valencia, SpainThis research aims to analyze how think tanks influence scholars’ academic debate. Specifically, the influence strategies followed by think tanks specialized in environmental policy through funding scientific articles in high-impact academic journals are examined. Articles published between 2008 and 2023 (n = 3,502) in scientific journals indexed in Journal Citation Reports (JCR) according to the Science Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) and Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) were analyzed. Their impact was assessed in terms of number of citations (n = 124,933) and Normalized Impact per Year (NIY). Two sub-periods were constructed, before and after the start of the 2030 Agenda, to analyze the academic influence strategies of think tanks specialized in the study area, analyzing co-funding strategy and the most notable changes in the areas of interest and preference for funding think tanks. VOSviewer 1.6.20 was used to analyze the corpus of scientific publications in both periods. The results suggest that think tanks use financing for scientific research to boost their presence and influence in the academic debate. This trend intensified after the start of the 2030 Agenda, and several think tanks detected co-financing strategies. This exploratory study represents a novelty in the literature on the academic influence of think tanks. The main contribution of this article is to propose an analysis methodology that can be replicated in other areas of study and to offer evidence on the impact strategies of think tanks in the academic debate.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpos.2025.1522697/fullthink tankenvironment policyacademic debatescholars2030 Agenda
spellingShingle Vanessa Roger-Monzó
Fernando Castelló-Sirvent
The medium is the message… Also, in the academy? Exploring the influence of environment policy think tanks
Frontiers in Political Science
think tank
environment policy
academic debate
scholars
2030 Agenda
title The medium is the message… Also, in the academy? Exploring the influence of environment policy think tanks
title_full The medium is the message… Also, in the academy? Exploring the influence of environment policy think tanks
title_fullStr The medium is the message… Also, in the academy? Exploring the influence of environment policy think tanks
title_full_unstemmed The medium is the message… Also, in the academy? Exploring the influence of environment policy think tanks
title_short The medium is the message… Also, in the academy? Exploring the influence of environment policy think tanks
title_sort medium is the message also in the academy exploring the influence of environment policy think tanks
topic think tank
environment policy
academic debate
scholars
2030 Agenda
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpos.2025.1522697/full
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