Characterizing Peace Through Scientific Keywords

2026-08-11

AI Summary

This study addresses the conceptual heterogeneity of peace, demonstrating that it is not a neutral or unified scientific construct but rather differentially framed across disciplines and geopolitical contexts. By systematically analyzing keywords in global academic literature linked to Sustainable Development Goal 16 (SDG 16), the research integrates disciplinary classifications with national Peace Index scores through associative modeling. Findings reveal that high-peace countries embed violence within frameworks of welfare, health, and social systems, whereas low-peace countries emphasize conflict, security, and geopolitics. Moreover, the natural sciences predominantly adopt technical and forensic perspectives on peace, while the social sciences foreground institutional and legal dimensions. Moving beyond conventional singular conceptions of violence, this work reconceptualizes peace as a multidimensional construct spanning institutional, societal, and technological domains, thereby elucidating the mechanisms underlying its semantic diversification.

Abstract

This study aims to show that peace, as reflected in scientific research, is not a neutral or uniform concept but is constructed differently across disciplines and geopolitical contexts. To do this, this study analyzes differences in the use of keywords among scholarly publications aligned with SDG 16 across various disciplinary, societal, and national contexts, and identifies which keywords are most strongly associated with countries exhibiting higher versus lower levels of societal peace. Results show that while peace-related research is strongly centered on violence, it is interpreted through distinct lenses: technological and forensic approaches in biomedical and NSE fields, and institutional, legal, and societal perspectives in the social sciences. At the country level, violence remains a central anchor, but its framing varies with levels of peace, with higher-peace countries embedding it within welfare, health, and social systems, and lower-peace countries emphasizing conflict, security, and geopolitics. These results could contribute to shaping both research priorities and science policy initiatives.

Problem

• peace
• scientific keywords
• SDG 16
• disciplinary differences
• geopolitical contexts

Innovation

• peace research
• scientific keywords
• SDG 16
• disciplinary framing
• geopolitical context