Status, challenges and opportunities of landslide susceptibility assessment in China: the perspective from national bibliometric analysis and global comparison for hazard mitigation

Abstract

Abstract Landslide susceptibility assessment (LSA) is a crucial step for landslide risk management, hazard mitigation, land use planning, and sustainable development. In this study, we conducted a bibliometric analysis of LSA literature in China and compared it with global trends, aiming to identify the status, challenges and opportunities of LSA in China. We created a database of 337 peer-reviewed LSA articles in China, analysing ten aspects, including temporal trends, journals, authors, institutions, keywords, study areas, inventory information, landslide factors, models, and evaluation metrics. Our results show that China is a leading contributor to LSA research, with top contributors being Environmental Earth Science, Chen Wei, and China University of Geoscience. Over 90% of the articles used a single inventory for assessment, primarily derived from field mapping and aerial photograph interpretation. Slope, geo-lithology, and aspect were identified as key factors in landslide occurrence in China, and machine learning models have become the mainstream methods for LSA. ROC curves were the most used evaluation metric. Priority regions for landslide management in China include Hunan, Fujian, and Guangxi. By global comparisons, concerns remain about the impact of LSA articles, engagement with global issues, landslide inventory quality, suitability of machine learning models, factor selection, and evaluation metric reliability. According to the gaps between global and China, we identified six challenges and opportunities, including technology R&D, landslide factor determination, hybrid model development, comprehensive evaluation systems, responses to climate change and human activity, and the shift from susceptibility to management and sustainable development. Recommendations addressing these challenges are also provided, and a general framework for assessing the challenges and opportunities in LSA for any other country or other fields is provided. It is able to support decision-makers in making more informed decisions.