What, When, and Where Do You Mean? Detecting Spatio-Temporal Concept Drift in Scientific Texts

Inundated by the rapidly expanding AI research nowadays, the research community requires more effective research data management than ever. A key challenge lies in the evolving nature of concepts embedded in the growing body of research publications. As concepts evolve over time (e.g., keywords like global warming become more commonly referred to as climate change), past research may become harder to find and interpret in a modern context. This phenomenon, known as concept drift, affects how research topics and keywords are understood, categorized, and retrieved. Beyond temporal drift, such variations also occur across geographic space, reflecting differences in local policies, research priorities, and so forth. In this work, we introduce the notion of spatio-temporal concept drift to capture how concepts in scientific texts evolve across both space and time. Using a scientometric dataset in geographic information science, we detect how research keywords drifted across countries and years using word embeddings. By detecting spatio-temporal concept drift, we can better align archival research and bridge regional differences, ensuring scientific knowledge remains findable and interoperable within evolving research landscapes.