The Basilicata region (Southern Italy): a natural and 'human-built' open-air laboratory for manifold studies. Research trends over the last 24 years (1994-2017)

The Basilicata region (Southern Italy) is characterized by a peculiar environmental as well as biological, geological, and cultural heritage features that are evident in national and regional parks as well as places of monumental and archaeological relevance, including the Matera UNESCO Site. Basilicata hosts the highly studied Vulture volcanic complex and the largest hydrocarbon reservoir in continental Europe. Furthermore, the region falls among the Italian regions most prone to landslides and floods and it is located in a seismotectonic background responsible of strong earthquakes. Therefore, the territory of Basilicata can be considered an open-air laboratory, both natural and "human-built". The laboratory, with its features, has attracted many scientists worldwide and over time. The researchers have focused their attention on manifold studies. That being stated, the article aims to analyse the outputs of the scientific investigations targeting the territory of Basilicata within the last 24 years (1994-2017) with a bibliometric approach. The Thomson Reuters' Science Citation Index Expanded and the Social Sciences Citation Index were the two bibliographic databases considered. Once the pertinent articles were extracted from the two citation indexes, the authors analysed the publication trends, Web of Science categories, countries, and hot topics.