Science-to-policy transition in fisheries genetics theses in Türkiye: Patterns and gaps (1995–2024)

Vollständiger Abstract

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This study analysed 66 postgraduate theses in fisheries genetics completed in Türkiye between 1995 and 2024, aiming to examine the gap in the transition of scientific knowledge into fisheries management policies. Data obtained from the National Thesis Centre of YÖK (Council of Higher Education) were evaluated using Poisson and logistic regression, Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) and K-means analysis. The results indicate that academic output is dominated by master’s thesis (68.2%), and majority of research geographically concentrated in Marmara (69.7%) and Black Sea (65.2%) regions. The taxonomic focus was found to centre largely on fish species (77.8%). Methodologically, 74.2% of the studies are based on the traditional mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) markers. The most remarkable result is the absence of a direct management focus in 78.8% of the theses, which has shown no statistically significant improvement over three decades (p = 0.868). However, doctoral dissertations were more likely to include a management focus than master’s theses (p = 0.022), suggesting that advanced graduate research may contribute more directly to management-oriented knowledge production. MCA and clustering analyses revealed that applied stock genetics and theoretical ecological genetics operate in isolated thematic clusters, pointing to an epistemological barrier. The present study underscores the existence of a structural gap in the science-policy transition in studies conducted in the field of fisheries genetics in Türkiye and highlights the need for establishing a robust interface between universities and public decision-makers in order to transform genetic data into a strategic regulatory instrument.