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• Study analyzes 1374 papers on sensitivity analysis in Scopus. • RStudio, CiteSpace, and VOSviewer are used. • China has most articles published; India leads in international cooperation. • Top three cited journals: J. Clean. Prod., Expert Syst. Appl., and Comput. Ind. Eng. • Most cited authors are Pamučar D, Kahraman C, and Zavadskas EK. In the present era, the implementation of scientifically grounded Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) has emerged as a pivotal solution to diverse decision-making challenges across various domains. Although a substantial body of exploratory, conceptual, and experimental studies exists, only 9.457% studies have incorporated sensitivity analyses to assess the robustness of MCDM methods. An exhaustive scientific exploration of sensitivity analysis within the scope of MCDM is thus lacking. This research aims to address this gap through Bibliometric Analysis while examining 1374 articles published between January 2000 and March 2023 from the Scopus database. Using RStudio (Biblioshiny), CiteSpace, and VOSviewer software, the study constructs a visual representation of the most prolific countries, institutions, and authors. Impressively, China takes the lead in article publications, while India excels in international collaboration. "An extended TODIM multi-criteria group decision-making method for green supplier selection in an interval type-2 fuzzy environment," featured in the Journal of Environmental Management, emerges as the most cited paper with a total citation of 455. The study also identifies the top three most cited journals, namely "Journal of Cleaner Production," "Expert Systems With Applications," and "Computers and Industrial Engineering." "North China Electric Power University" is the leading institute with the highest research outputs. "Pamučar D" is the most cited author, with 2594 citations and 39 articles, followed by "Kahraman C" and "Zavadskas EK. This study sheds light on trends in scientific developments and collaborations, providing a model for the application of sensitivity analysis in MCDM research and highlighting global trends. An understanding of the current state of sensitivity analysis research can assist researchers working in the entire domain of MCDM. Additionally, the visualization provides prescriptive data for future work and applications related to sensitivity analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Scientometric analysis of MPs in soil ecosystems was performed. • A total of 2210 articles on MPs from 2012 to 2022 were analyzed. • Knowledge bases, trends, and hotspots in MP research were identified. • China was the top country in terms of publications and funding. • The migration of MPs from terrestrial to aquatic systems should be considered in the future. Soil microplastic (MP) pollution is a growing global environmental issue leading to a series of ecosystem problems and functional losses. However, understanding the advances and trends in soil MP pollution research proved to be difficult based on individual studies. Herein, CiteSpace visualization analysis software was used to sort the literature obtained on soil MP research from the Web of Science (WoS) TM core collection database, and bibliometric analysis of publication volume, country/region, keywords and other information was conducted. Results showed that soil microplastics (MP) research had much lower publication volume than hydrological system MP research, and was still in its developing stage. However, the number of research hotspots in soil MP research increased continuously since 2018. Countries such as China, the United States, the Netherlands and Australia have published more papers in this field than other countries, and collaboration among research institutions is strong. The source, pollution status, analysis methods and toxic effects of MPs in soils are current research hotspots. In the future, the focus of MP research in terrestrial ecosystems should shift from ecotoxicology to the impact of MPs on ecosystems and earth system feedback. The bibliometric analysis results of this study can serve as a reference for in-depth studies of the pollution status of MPs in soils. For MP soil pollution research, cross-background, cross-institution, cross-country cooperation and cross-disciplinary roles should be encouraged to accelerate the growth and diversification of the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A scientometric approach is utilized to investigate the dynamic maps of relationships among researchers, institutes, and countries in the field of Artificial Intelligence for Fluid-flow and Heat-transfer (AIFH). The Web of Science database was searched for related publications during the last 40 years (1982 and 2022). A total of 6151 articles were discovered, which were analyzed in detail. Using a bibliometric analysis, the most relevant and most cited sources of publications were identified. The most active researchers, institutions, and countries leading AIFH were reported. Then, the worldwide dynamic collaboration maps and coupling maps of relationships were reported. The Islamic Azad University (1893 T.C.), the Chinese Academy of Sciences (1374 T.C.), and Beihang University (1266 T.C.) were the most influential institutes in AIFH. The most influential countries were China, the USA, and Iran. The dynamic map of collaborations shows a good worldwide collaboration distribution. The USA and China established the most connection with the rest of the world. ANNs are the most studied topic (19.5% of publications), followed by Machine Learning (17.9%) and Neural Networks (15.4%). Support Vector Machines lag behind at 1.4%. ANNs boast the highest total citations (17,064) and H-index (63). Most ANIF papers were published by Medical Physics (119 T.P.). Half of the articles in AIFH were published by five journals of Medical Physics, Neurocomputing, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics, and IEEE Access. The International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer received the most citations in AIFH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the massive use of antibiotics, antibiotics resistance genes (ARGs) are widely present in organic solid wastes (OSWs) such as livestock manure and sludge. As a common recycling technology, composting is often used to eliminate ARGs from OSWs. However, there is no bibliometric perspective on the fate of ARGs during OSWs composting to reveal the current state and future directions in this field. In this study, CiteSpace and VOSviewer were applied to count the available data from 2000 to 2021 in Web of Science to review the development and characteristics of relevant research. The results showed that the number of relevant papers and citations has increased consistently, with institutions and authors from China being the main contributors. The research belongs to the multidisciplinary with a focus on the environmental sciences ecology, and the results were mainly published in Bioresource Technology. Moreover, crucial literatures were screened to explore the framework within which the subject was constructed. Based on keyword analysis, the bacterial community was highlighted, and the research hotspots were revealed on the occurrence, affect factors including physicochemical properties, microbial community, MGEs, antibiotic, and heavy metal, and reduction strategies including exogenous additive, microbial inoculant, and improved process, as well as the spread of ARGs in soil. This study provides the first review and summary of the hotspots, current challenges, and future directions of the fate of ARGs during OSWs composting based on bibliometric analysis, which could provide significant insights for effective control of the spread of ARGs from OSWs. • First bibliometric analysis of the fate of ARGs during composting. • Relevant research burst in recent years, with China being the main contributor. • Bacterial community is the keywords most closely related to ARGs in composts. • Review the hotspots of research on the fate of ARGs during composting. • Propose the current challenges and future directions in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Ventilation rate and arrangement are crucial to prevent airborne disease in healthcare facilities. • Local ventilation is practical for supply fresh air and diluting contaminants in high-risk areas. • Microplastics emerged as potential virus carriers in indoor environments, warrant further investigations. The prevalence and transmission of airborne infections pose significant challenges to public health, leading to consequential negative impacts. Ventilation strategies are crucial in mitigating airborne infections in healthcare settings, preventing the spread of infectious diseases, thus protecting patients and healthcare workers. While individual studies have explored various aspects of ventilation in healthcare settings, a synthesized overview of the current state of knowledge is lacking. Therefore, this study attempts to bridge the gap by conducting a review and bibliometric analysis based on 198 papers published within the recent decades (1993–2022). The findings will provide a holistic understanding on the innovative interventions and identify areas for future research, thereby contributing to the development of effective guidelines for controlling airborne infections. The co-authorship analysis revealed that China emerged as the main contributor in the current research field due to the keen interest of researchers and the substantial financial support provided by funding agencies. The keyword co-occurrence analysis identified three primary research hotspots within the field, (i) the optimized ventilation strategies for combating airborne infection, (ii) the transition towards the application of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in analyzing airflow patterns, and, (iii) the characteristics of airborne particles and their impact on infection transmission. The present review highlights the significance of local ventilation as an additional measure to the main ventilation system for enhanced dilution of contaminants in high-risk areas. The transition towards dynamic airflow analysis considered human movement's effect, allowing for more precise assessments and tailored ventilation strategies optimization. The review also underscores the emerging concern of microplastic as an indoor contaminant with potential implications as a virus carrier, emphasizing further research on its behavior and impact on airborne infection transmission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Constructing an eco-civilization is crucial in achieving green, low-carbon development, and thus bridging the gap between theory and practice is imperative to better promote urban ecological transformation. At present, there are inconsistencies and imbalances between theoretical research and practical efforts to achieve an eco-civilization. This paper uses bibliometric analysis and Latent Dirichlet Allocation to analyze China's progress towards an eco-civilization at the theoretical and practical levels. The 'theory' is analyzed using 632 articles, while the 'practice' is analyzed using 100 eco-civilization pilot zone reports. The two are compared, with results showing: from 2015 onwards, the theory is moving in an interdisciplinary direction, with seven themes focusing on macro topics. eco-civilization construction projects have multiple overlapping themes, and the growing connection between energy consumption, economic growth and environmental impacts driven by significant projects is the key to improving the level of regional ecological development. the theory and practice are similar in that both are concerned with environmental protection, ecological education, and ecotourism. However, eco-civilization construction projects lack forward-looking and dynamic development tracking of low-carbon research. the paper proposes that dynamic evaluation and project tracking methods should be applied to monitor critical indicators to achieve a solid link between the theory and practice during eco-construction projects. This paper also proposes academia should do more research on townships and other micro level phenomena to promote climate change and energy revolution in the construction of a Chinese eco-civilization. • Analysis of the similarities and differences between theoretical research and practical measures of eco-civilization. • Academic research focuses on sustainability, while practical activities lack attention to climate change. • Optimizing the energy-economy-environment integration project is the key to improving China's ecology. • Environmental protection, eco-civilization education, and eco-tourism are common concerns in the theory and practice. • Suggestions include focusing on crucial indicators and micro-level activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of household carbon emissions (HCEs) has become one of the most important topics in sustainability research due to the growing awareness of its significances in responding to global warming. This paper aims to identify the trends and characteristics of HCEs research for the period 1993–2019 through the bibliometric analysis approach. The impacts of most productive journals, countries, institutions and authors are evaluated by citation analysis, while the co-authorship network between various countries, institutions as well as the co-occurrence among different keywords are presented. The results of this paper provide a detailed picture on HCEs-related articles from 1993 to 2019. Both the number of publications on HCEs and the cooperation among countries and institutions have increased during the period. Keyword analysis suggests that the revelation of current status of HCEs and corresponding influencing factors are the main lines of HCEs research, and the prediction of HCEs should become the focus of future research. The valuable results obtained from this study can help the academic professionals keep informed of the latest developments in the HCEs-related field. • We employed bibliometric analysis to examine the evolution in HCEs Research. • HCEs research is at its rapid growth stage of development. • USA and China are the most active countries in HCEs research. • The quantification of HCEs and corresponding influencing factors are the main line. • The evolution trend of HCEs should be the focus of future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of micro- and nanoplastics (M/NPs) on terrestrial ecosystems has been a hot topic in recent years since the soil has been recognized as an important sink for M/NPs. In the current study, a CiteSpace-based scientometric analysis of 506 papers was performed to show the intellectual background, research performance, and state of art knowledge structure of M/NPs in the terrestrial environment over the past six years (2016 - January 2022). The most prolific publications, journals, authors, and countries involved in the flourishment of this field were identified. Additionally, visualization methods were employed to determine the highly productive keywords, hotspots, and research frontiers in the field of M/NPs in terrestrial environments. Furthermore, cluster analysis was performed to provide an accurate summary of this field by exploring the sub-domains of this field. China has proven to be the most prominent country among others in terms of publications and funding. This study can help researchers identify new research fronts and distinguish the most critical sub-domains of M/NPs in the terrestrial environment research. [Display omitted] • Scientometric analysis of micro- and nanoplastic in terrestrial ecosystem was done. • Sub-domains of this field were extracted through knowledge structuring. • Publications in this field increased by 8533.3% in 2021 relative to 2016. • China was the most prominent country in terms of publication and funding. • Studies about the trophic transfer of M/NPs should be considered in future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, emerging contaminants have been found in the wastewater, surface water, and even drinking water, which should be treated to ensure the safety of our living environment. In this study, we provide a comprehensive summary of wastewater treatment and emerging contaminants research from 1998 to 2021 by using the bibliometric analysis. This study is conducted based on the Web of Science Core Collection Database. The bibliometix R-package, VOSviewer and CiteSpace software are used for bibliometric analysis and science mapping. A dataset of 10, 605 publications has been retrieved. The analysis results show that China has produced the most publications. China and the United States have the closest cooperation. Analysis of the most cited papers reveals that the purification or removal techniques such as ozonation or membrane filtration can effectively remove pharmaceutical compounds from the water environment. We also found that the efficient detection of emerging contaminants and the optimization of removal methods are current challenges. Finally, future research directions are discussed. Co-occurrence network of keywords. [Display omitted] • 10,605 publications of wastewater treatment and emerging contaminants were analyzed. • China and the United States have the closest cooperation. • China, United States, and Spain have the most documents. • The publication published by Heberer (2002) receives the most citations. • Removal is a popular keyword in this research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, agents for sludge dewatering have received extensive attention both from fundamental and applied research. Papers in the field of sludge dewatering agents are mainly concerned with the synthesis and characterization of agents as well as their interaction mechanisms with sludge. On the other hand, patents, which are characteristically different than papers, involve the invention and application of sludge dewatering agents. However, these researches rarely use bibliometric technology and social network analysis to provide a better understanding of the fundamental and applied researches in this specific field. This paper presents a quantitative analysis based on a total of 338 (out of 1126) core papers from Web of Science Expanded and 961 (out of 4678) core patents from Derwent Innovation to provide valuable suggestions that may promote further development in the field of sludge dewatering agents. The core point of this paper is to explore the relationship between fundamental research and applied research in the field of sludge dewatering agents through citation, characteristics of different countries/regions, collaborations of research area and organizations. Our results underline that highly cited papers support applied research by citating information among them. With respect to countries, Japan paid more attention to applied research, whereas the USA performed well both in fundamental research and applied research. China has high quantity in both papers and patents in agents for sludge dewatering. However, the papers per capita of population of China is low and the pattern still needs to optimized to improve the quality in this field. The unique development path revealed that developing countries still have a long way to go in terms of technology innovation. In addition, collaboration network of research areas has shown strong cooperation among applied researches, however they lack connection with fundamental sciences, such as physics or chemistry. Furthermore, collaboration network of organizations disclosed the necessity for upstream enterprises (agent producers) to work closely with downstream enterprises (agent users) in the sludge dewatering. Image 1 • A bibliometric analysis on agents for sludge dewatering was conducted. • Highly cited papers support applied research. • Japan is application-oriented and USA performed well in both fundamental research and applied research. • Developing countries still need to optimize their pattern or promote technology innovation. • Interdisciplinary collaboration covering the lifecycle of industrial chain is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China wants to embrace blockchain, the technology has triggered a new round of technological innovation and industrial change and has huge potential to enhance sustainable development capabilities in many areas. The purpose of this paper is to explore the global status of China's blockchain research. This study applies bibliometric analysis to perform statistical and correlation analysis on the blockchain literature from 2013 to 2019 included in the Web of Science (WOS) database and draws the social network with visual analysis technology. The statistical results show that China is the country that publishes the most blockchain papers in the world, leading the global blockchain research. Research institutions and authors from China also dominate global blockchain research. Further, this paper investigates the development process of China's blockchain research and determines the development stage through a comparative analysis with the United States. More specifically, the paper comprehensively analyzes the current status of China's blockchain research from three perspectives: the subject area, high-yield institutions and high-yield authors. The results indicate that China's blockchain research is experiencing rapid growth, and the research scope is constantly expanding, with the research focus gradually shifting to applied research. Finally, this paper summarizes the challenges faced by China's blockchain research and puts forward corresponding policy recommendations for reference by policy makers. • Blockchain has triggered a new round of technological innovation and industrial change. • The trend of global blockchain innovation is investigated. • China leads blockchain literature output, the most influential institutions and authors. • The different stages of China's blockchain development are analyzed in detail. • Looking forward to the opportunities and challenges of China's blockchain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Along with the expansion of China's chemical industry, a series of catastrophic chemical accidents have occurred, often with severe human casualties, resulting in adverse effects on the sustainable development. In line with these developments, process safety research is also developing rapidly in China. This paper aims to present insights in the progress of process safety research in China using bibliometric analysis. The results indicate that in China the most productive authors, institutions, and provinces are located in economically developed coastal areas and in areas with more universities specializing in safety science and engineering. As for the international cooperation, the most significant collaborating countries are economically developed countries or China's neighbors, and these countries have published a large number of papers important in this field. The citation analysis shows that Chinese process safety research currently still has a relatively limited international impact. The analysis of hot topics shows that there currently are very few new methods or research topics introduced in recent years, and there is still significant room for the Chinese research community to improve in some subdomains of the research field. Based on these trends and apparent shortcomings in the literature, future research directions are proposed. The results contribute to understanding the overall situation of process safety research in China, and can serve as a high-level synthesis of the research field. This information is useful for developing research and development policies and industrial strategies, and benefits the safety and sustainability of China's chemical industries. • The study applies bibliometric analysis in mapping process safety research in China. • The most influential Chinese authors, institutes, areas, and papers are identified. • National and international cooperation among authors and institutes is analyzed. • Hot topics and trends are identified using terms co-occurrence network. • Several avenues for future research are proposed based on analysis results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phosphogypsum is a by-product of the phosphate fertilizer industry. It is generally treated by stacking, which not only causes environmental pollution, but also wastes resources. Therefore, the harmless, comprehensive, and high-value utilization of phosphogypsum has attracted more and more scholars around the world. From the perspective of bibliometrics, this paper systematically and comprehensively describes the research progress, trends and hot spots of phosphogypsum resource utilization. This article is based on a scientific network database, and a total of 1067 articles from 1985 to 2020 were collected. Then, use VOSViewer software to perform co-occurrence, co-citation analysis and cluster analysis. The visual analysis results demonstrate that the research on the resource utilization of phosphogypsum shows the characteristics of rapid growth. The active countries are mainly China, Brazil, Spain and the United States. Four of the top 10 active organizations are from China. It systematically expounds the changes in research hotspots in this field at different stages and possible future research hotspots. Including the gradual attention to the preparation of phosphogypsum building materials, phosphogypsum adsorption materials, and radioactive elements in phosphogypsum; the extraction of rare earth elements from phosphogypsum; the use of phosphogypsum to prepare fertilizer or soil improvement. Research shows that phosphogypsum can be reasonably designed, transformed, and used in different fields.However, the radioactivity contained in phosphogypsum should be paid attention to because it has an impact on humans and the environment. We believe that this research provides a comprehensive and systematic overview for future research on phosphogypsum resource utilization. • For the first time, the current research status of phosphogypsum is proposed by bibliometrics. • The extraction of building materials and rare earth elements reflects current research hotspots. • The environment and material application of phosphogypsum are discussed in detail. • Prospects and challenges in the field of comprehensive utilization of phosphogypsum are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the Web of Science Core Collection databases from 1990 to 2018, a scientometric analysis of 1,284 academic works related to forest carbon sequestration is carried out to characterize the intellectual landscape by identifying and revealing the basic characteristics, research power, intellectual base and research hotspots in this field. The results of this work show that: ① the number of publications in forest carbon sequestration research has increased rapidly and the research in this field is in its "growth stage"; Forest Ecology and Management is the most productive journal and Forestry is the most popular subject category; ② the most productive authors and institutions in this subject area are in the USA, China and Canada, with the Chinese Academy of Sciences being the key institution performing such research; ③ in the sample, 9 papers have played a key role in the evolution of the field and laid a solid foundation for future research; ④ Keyword clustering analysis showed that the main research topics in the domain of forest carbon sequestration could be summarized as: (a) temperate forest; (b) forest management; (c) uncertainty analysis; (d) forest floor; (e) REDD; (f) net primary productivity. Meanwhile, keyword bursts analysis showed that the new research hotspots or research frontiers mainly concentrated on changes in the carbon storage and carbon sequestration potential of secondary forests and tropical forests, plant litter carbon storage and contribution to total ecosystem carbon storage, and new national forest inventories (NFIs). Through in-depth analysis of forest carbon sequestration research, this paper provides a better understanding of development trends that have emerged in this field over the past 29 years, which can also offer reference for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article has reviewed the international research from the 20th century to the first half of 2019 on the terms "efficiency" and "local government". For this purpose, a bibliometric and a cluster analysis by fractional accounting have been carried out using two of the most important databases: Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus. The research found and studied 1222 documents from the WoS Core Collection and 2264 from Scopus. The results show a continuous increase in the number of published articles and citations during the whole period. It also found that the U.S., U.K, and China are the most productive countries with a predominance of North American and Asian organizations supporting and fostering researches. The principal contribution of this article is the analysis of keywords from 2011 to the first half of 2019. The trend shows a convergence on the concepts of efficiency and local government over the last few years, which are related to sustainability and natural environment. Future research in this field should address the relationship between efficiency in the allocation of local resources and the environmental sustainability of municipalities. • A bibliometric review of local government efficiency was conducted. • The paper identifies publications that serve as a guide to the local policymakers. • A recent worldwide trend in this field is based on environment. • A pending subject of local government efficiency is a geopolitical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]