SSPs Literature Database: Coded Analysis of 1,360 Climate Scenario Papers

1,360 academic articles published from 2014 to 2019 that used the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) climate scenario framework are cataloged and manually coded in this database. Each paper's bibliographic information and abstract is analyzed along dimensions such as paper type, specific SSPs and RCPs used, and SSP-RCP combinations. The dataset tracks the adoption and application of the SSP/RCP/SPA framework to assess its use and inform future improvements in integrated climate-society research.

Use Cases

• Tracking the adoption rate of specific SSPs (e.g., SSP1, SSP3) in published literature.
• Analyzing common combinations of Shared Socioeconomic Pathways and Representative Concentration Pathways (SSP-RCP).
• Categorizing literature by type of analysis or application domain (SSP Applications/Extensions).
• Reviewing abstracts for thematic trends in socioeconomic and climate scenario research from 2014-2019.

Strengths

• Contains a manually coded and curated set of 1,360 papers, ensuring substantive use of the SSP framework.
• Covers a defined five-year period (2014-2019) capturing early adoption of the SSP scenario framework.
• Provides multi-dimensional coding, including specific pathways, combinations, and paper categories.

Limitations

• Column names and exact data structure are not provided in the available metadata.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates (2019-12 31 and 2026-04-10) create uncertainty about version freshness.
• The dataset is static, ending in 2019, and does not include more recent publications.

Provenance

Source

ESDIS (Earth Science Data and Information System, NASA)

Collection Method

Generated from a Google Scholar search followed by manual examination and coding of papers.

Time Range

2014 to 2019

Freshness

2026-04 -10 19:22:26.436389 (conflict with 2019-12-31 date noted)

Geography

Global (literature coverage)