Twenty years of global groundwater research: A Science Citation Index Expanded-based bibliometric survey (1993–2012)

Abstract

A bibliometric analysis was conducted to evaluate groundwater research from different perspectives in the period 1993–2012 based on the Science Citation Index-Expanded (SCIE) database. The bibliometric analysis summarizes output, categorical, geographical, and institutional patterns, as well as research hotspots in global groundwater studies. Groundwater research experienced notable growth in the past two decades. “Environmental sciences”, “water resources” and “multidisciplinary geosciences” were the three major subject categories. The Journal of Hydrology published the largest number of groundwater-related publications in the surveyed period. Major author clusters and research regions are located in the United States, Western Europe, Eastern and Southern Asia, and Eastern Australia. The United States was a leading contributor to global groundwater research with the largest number of independent and collaborative papers, its dominance affirmed by housing 12 of the top 20 most active institutions reporting groundwater-related research. The US Geological Survey, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the USDA Agricultural Research Service were the three institutions with the largest number of groundwater-related publications. A keywords analysis revealed that groundwater quality and contamination, effective research technologies, and treatment technologies for water-quality improvement were the main research areas in the study period. Several keywords such as “arsenic”, “climate change”, “fluoride”, “groundwater management”, “hydrogeochemistry”, “uncertainty”, “numerical modeling”, “seawater intrusion”, “adsorption”, “remote sensing”, “land use”, “USA”(as study site), and “water supply” received dramatically increased attention during the study period, possibly signaling future research trends.