Trends in Global Research on Seed Dispersal: A Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

To understand the research trends and areas of focus of seed dispersal, a bibliometric study based on the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-E) and Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) databases of the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) was performed. With the help of CiteSpace visualization software, a systematic analysis was carried out on 2911 publications from various countries in the field of seed dispersal. The activity index (AI) and attraction index (AAI) were used to evaluate the research effort and academic impact of different countries/territories in this field, and the global research progress and dynamic changes in research on seed dispersal were discussed. The number of publications on seed dispersal has increased rapidly since 1990, and research on seed dispersal is in the growth stage and has great potential. Ecology was the journal with the highest impact in this field, and ecology was the most popular subject category among the studies analyzed. The most productive authors in the field of seed dispersal are from Spain, and the most productive institution is in the USA. A keyword burst analysis showed that the new research frontiers were mainly concentrated on seed body size and the ecological network of seed dispersal. An in-depth analysis of seed dispersal research indicated that the increasing development of mathematical models related to seed dispersal creates an opportunity to study the processes of seed dispersal and their consequences.