Behind the scenes: Scientific networks driving the operationalization of the Social-Ecological System framework

Highlights: • Scientific production was systematized through the Cochrane Manual. • Evidence of methodological pluralism with dominance of the Environmental Sciences. • 60% of research takes place in the Global South, but only 26% involve scientists from those countries. • Network analysis was used to identify which methods and disciplines intervened to operationalize the approach. • The socio-ecological system approach encourages collaboration, but isolated research groups persist. The analytical framework of Social-Ecological Systems (SES) has been endorsed worldwide because of its ability to describe the complex feedback relationships between social and ecological subsystems. The framework promotes multidisciplinarity and interdisciplinarity, with the expectation that studies will be carried out through groups and collaborative networks via the application of mixed research methods. In this study, we conducted a systematic review of the scientific literature to understand whether the operationalization of the SES framework has been achieved in this way. For this, we used the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions and the Scopus database. Based on the results, there is wide methodological plurality, although there are few studies that have opted for mixed methods that capture the complexity of an SES. In terms of scientific networks, we found that the community is composed mainly of consolidated groups of scientists from the Global North in which authors-researchers with betweenness centrality roles were identified, who connect the entire network, reaching the Global South, where peripheral groups, which are barely consolidated and develop their studies, mostly in their own regions, prevail.