Bibliometric Analysis of Global Research on Muskmelon (Cucumis melo L.) Based on Web of Science

Abstract

Muskmelon is a warm season cucurbit species that belongs to family Cucurbitaceae. We analyzed 2955 papers of global research on muskmelon (Cucumis melo L.) based on Web of Science from 1924 to 2021. Papers were mainly written in English (2766, 93.604%), from 7883 authors, 83 countries or regions, 1697 organizations, and published in 585 journals and book series. The top five journals were HortScience (334, 11.303%), Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science (Proceedings of the American Society for Horticultural Science) (117, 3.959%), Scientia Horticulturae (109, 3.689%), Plant Disease (88, 2.978%), and Phytopathology (84, 2.843%), each of which published more than 84 papers. The top five countries or regions were the United States, PR China, Spain, Brazil, and Japan, which each published more than 168 papers. The top six organizations were U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service, Agricultural Research Organization, Texas A&M University, Universitat Politecnica de Valencia, University of California–Davis and Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, each of which published more than 64 papers. The top five authors are G.D. Lester, J.D. McCreight, J. Garcia-Mas, K.M. Crosby, and T.J. Ng, who each published more than 26 papers. On the basis of the analysis of a network map of VOSviewer, there were cooperation among authors, organizations, and countries or regions. All keywords of muskmelon research were separated into eight clusters for different research topics. Visualizations offer exploratory information on the current state and indicate possible developments in the future. This work is also useful for students identifying graduate schools and researchers selecting journals.