Soil desiccation in the context of vegetation restoration: A scientometric analysis

Abstract

AbstractThis research aims to fill the gap in understanding the evolution of soil desiccation studies, focusing on its impact on sustainable crop production in China's Loess Plateau. The study explores trends, influential works, authors, journals, and emerging research areas within the field of soil desiccation. To achieve this, this study pioneers a comprehensive scientometric exploration of soil desiccation. The study analyzed 1952 publications on soil desiccation from January 2013 to December 2023, sourced from the Web of Science. Various co‐citation techniques such as author co‐citation analysis (ACA), document co‐citation analysis (DCA), journal co‐citation analysis (JCA), and keyword analysis are employed. Network development, visualization tools, and text‐mining methods are utilized to discern patterns and relationships within the dataset. Here, for the first time, nine distinct clusters were identified through DCA. The findings reveal the impactful emergence of significant clusters, such as the one focusing on the Loess Plateau, marking a significant advance in our understanding of soil desiccation. Multiple research frontiers or sub‐specialties emerge, including topics such as different vegetation types, the impact on grain yield, water use efficiency, growth, soil water content, hydraulic redistribution, drought, soil moisture, and modeling. This innovative scientometric review of soil desiccation outlines the current scientific and technological trends while identifying knowledge gaps. The findings are beneficial for researchers, graduate students, and professors interested in understanding research trajectories, pivotal publications, and influential scholars shaping this field.