| dc.description.abstract | The widespread use of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) has exceeded planetary boundaries, posing urgent environmental and health risks. However, the alignment between science supply and social demands to address these challenges remains unclear. This study examines the U.S. PFAS research landscape to evaluate how environmental contamination and industrial activity impact the science supply, and what role policy intervention plays in the social demand and science supply relationship.
Using bibliometric methods and Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modeling, 33,305 PFAS-related publications (from year 2014 to 2024) from Scopus were analyzed, categorizing research into 29 topics, and finding three major research categories: PFAS application, human health and environment research. Around 70% of the science supply is about PFAS application, and only about 17% of the science supply contributes to the alignment. Regression and correlation analyses tested hypotheses linking societal demand factors like water quality and PFAS industrial releases, and also investigated policy factor’s moderating effect. Results reveal that the social demand raised from PFAS industrial releases is aligned with the science supply, while water quality demand shows no alignment with the science supply. Policy interventions exhibit a moderating effect, more PFAS-related policy can amplify the positive relationship between industrial activity and science supply, demonstrating the role of bridging social needs with the science supply and promoting the alignment.
In terms of science supply in general, there are not numerous studies that promote alignment. However, in specific social demand factor cases (industrial production), demand and supply are aligned and the moderating role played by policy can be observed. The overall landscape and alignment information of PFAS research revealed in this thesis reflects the progress of research in this field and provides information reference to the governance of PFAS issues. | |
