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This study aimed to explore the rich tapestry of studies on drought disasters, drought vulnerability, drought severity and water shortage (DDVS_WS), taking into account the critical situation and circumstance posed by drought in line with the shortage in water supplies. In total, 1117 original articles were downloaded in a BibTeX format for further analysis. The downloaded information included, but was not limited to authors, title, year of publication, citations, author keywords, keywords plus, countries of publications, institutions, journals, citations. Published studies on DDVS_WS obtained from the web of science (WOS) and Scopus databases on 20 May 2020 were used in this study. The field of DDVS_WS experienced a drastic increase with an annual growth of about 12.7% in terms of continued publications output during the years under assessment. Considering the country level, China ranked first with the highest number of publications, and the USA has great academic influence with most top articles' citations emerging from the USA affiliated institutions and research centres. Based on the top keyword, drought and climate change are at the centre of issues related to drought and water shortage, this provides a hint on the relatedness of drought and climate change for further studies. This study offers a map to navigate the intellectual quandary of DDVS_WS research and guidance for further studies in this area of specialization. It is fundamental to stress that this study only covers the core area of DDVS_WS research, hence, it is expected that new empirical studies and potential solutions would offer new insight on drought and water shortage as new research evolves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]