Bibliometric Analysis of Groundwater’s Life Cycle Assessment Research

Abstract

Groundwater is an important water resource that accounts for 30% of the world’s freshwater. 97% of this extracted groundwater is for drinking and human use. Due to anthropogenic activities, this resource is affected and, consequently, its life cycle is modified, changing its natural state. This paper aims to analyse the scientific production that deals with the study of groundwater’s Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), using bibliometric methods. Thus, it contributes to the evolution of knowledge of this resource in terms of its use (environmental, economic and social). The methodological process includes: (i) selection and analysis of search topics in the Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) databases; (ii) application of Bibliometrix and Visualisation of Similarity Viewer (VOSviewer) software to the data collected; (iii) scientific structure of the relation of the topics groundwater and life cycle, considering programme lines and relations in their sub-themes; (iv) literature review of Author keywords. A total of 780 papers were selected, 306 being from Scopus, 158 from WoS and 316 published in both databases. The time evolution of the analysed data (publications) indicates that groundwater LCA studies have seen exponential growth (between 1983 and 2021). In addition, it has three development periods: introduction (years between 1983 and 2001), growth (between 2002 and 2011) and maturation (between 2012 and 2021). At the country level (origin of contributions authors), the USA dominates the total scientific production with 24.7%, followed by Denmark with 12.8% and 10.3% for China. Among the main topics of study associated with LCA are those focused on: the proposal of remediation methods, the application and development of technologies and the use of water resources by the urban community. This study allows establishing new trends in agricultural development issues about irrigation efficiency, wastewater reuse, mining and treatment, climate change in a circular economy scheme related to sustainability and life cycle assessment.