Global Systematic Mapping of Road Dust Research from 1906 to 2020: Research Gaps and Future Direction

Abstract

Roadside dust resulting from industrialization of society has an adverse effect on the environment and human health. However, despite the global research progress in this field, to date, no bibliometric report on the subject has been documented. Hence, bibliometric mapping is important to assess the quality and quantity of the global research activities on road dust. Data were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection and Scopus, while RStudio software was used for data analysis. A total of 1186 publications were retrieved from these databases, and progressive growth in the subject over the last 10 years was observed, considering the positive correlation (y = 0.0024 × 3 − 0.1454 × 2 + 2.6061 × −8.5371; R2 = 0.961) obtained for these indices. China had the highest publications, and environmental science-related journals dominated publications on road dust. The findings suggest that other regions of the world, such as the Middle East and Africa, need to channel their research efforts toward this field, considering the shortage of publications on the subject from these regions. Therefore, this study shows that assessing research activity on road dust is important for planning impactful research directions and setting protective and adaptive policies related to the field.