Measuring Hakai's Research Impact
How far does research supported by the Tula Foundation and Hakai Institute travel? According to a new analysis from OpenAlex, the answer is: around the world.
In June, OpenAlex published an in-depth look at the research footprint of Tula and Hakai. The analysis identified nearly 1,500 research works connected to the organizations, collectively cited more than 58,000 times by researchers in 199 countries. More than 6 percent rank among the world's top 1 percent most-cited papers—roughly six times the rate expected globally.
The analysis also found that approximately 80 percent of Hakai-associated research is openly accessible, reflecting the Institute's longstanding commitment to open science. And while the numbers demonstrate scientific reach, the author notes that they capture only part of Tula's broader impact—from supporting coastal communities and First Nations stewardship to training generations of researchers.
Read The Hakai Institute, as seen by OpenAlex.
Hakai & Tula in the Public Eye
Our researchers and collaborations continued to appear in the news this summer:
Tracking a Glacier Outburst: As a growing lake on Place Glacier prompted evacuation orders north of Pemberton, Canadian Press coverage turned to UNBC professor and Hakai Institute affiliate Brian Menounos to explain why these increasingly large outburst floods are occurring and what communities may face in the years ahead. Hakai's Airborne Coastal Observatory provides detailed elevation data used by the research team to monitor the rapidly changing glacier.
What's Next for Sea Stars: Ha-Shilth-Sa spoke with Hakai Institute scientists Melanie Prentice and Alyssa Gehman about efforts to recover sunflower sea star populations following the discovery of the bacterium responsible for sea star wasting disease. Knowing the pathogen opens new possibilities for monitoring disease, breeding resistant animals, and ultimately restoring an ecologically important predator to Pacific waters.
Kelp Forests Lost to a Warming Salish Sea: National Geographic explored new research revealing the dramatic decline of bull kelp forests in the northern Salish Sea. Marine ecologist Brian Timmer and his colleagues reconstructed kelp forests documented in the 1970s, then returned more than 50 years later to find some once-expansive forests had disappeared entirely. Hakai Institute worked with the research team to retrace historic aerial survey routes and capture modern imagery of the coastline, helping reveal how decades of ocean warming have transformed these underwater ecosystems.
Ancient Footprints and the First North Americans: MONTECRISTO Magazine revisited archaeological discoveries on Calvert and Triquet islands that are helping reshape our understanding of how people first reached North America. The feature highlights Hakai-supported research into footprints more than 13,000 years old on Calvert Island and a 14,000-year-old archaeological site on nearby Triquet Island—evidence supporting a much deeper history of people living along the Pacific coast.