Bibliometric research on the development of climate change in the BRI regions

Abstract

Climate change is one of the great global challenges. To clarify the research status of climate change in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) regions, the BRI countries can better deal with climate change. This study aims to improve our understanding of the status and trends of research on climate change in the BRI regions. Based on keywords associated with the BRI and climate change, we undertake bibliometric research by collecting 21,225 related SCI/SSCI articles published during 2013–2018. Statistics and analysis revealed the topics and hotspots of research on BRI and climate change. Following findings are distilled. First, although the number of published articles exhibited a rapidly growing trend, their distribution is extremely uneven. Articles were mainly published by institutions from USA, UK, China, India, and Germany, while individual contributions from most BRI countries was less than 1% of the publication volume. Second, existing studies focused on climate change impacts on BRI countries, in addition, climate mitigation and adaptation in BRI regions, especially the assessment of climate change risks and measures and policies in response to climate change, was less watched in the research. Third, not all BRI regions have been examined by researchers. South Africa, South Asia, and West Asia and North Africa are hotspots, while the Pacific and Central Asia are largely neglected. In the future, BRI countries need to improve their research ability on climate change and more attention should be paid to the field of climate mitigation, especially on the assessment of climate change risks, measures, and policies, and BRI countries in the Oceania and Central Asia regions.