Phytoremediation of Heavy Metal Pollution: A Bibliometric and Scientometric Analysis from 1989 to 2018

Chen Li, Xiaohui Ji and Xuegang Luo
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Chen Li: School of Chemistry and Environmental Science, Shaanxi University of Technology, Hanzhong 723001, China
Xiaohui Ji: School of Chemistry and Environmental Science, Shaanxi University of Technology, Hanzhong 723001, China
Xuegang Luo: School of Life Science and Engineering, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang 621010, China

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 23, 1-28

Abstract: This paper aims to evaluate the knowledge landscape of the phytoremediation of heavy metals (HMs) by constructing a series of scientific maps and exploring the research hotspots and trends of this field. This study presents a review of 6873 documents published about phytoremediation of HMs in the international context from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) (1989–2018). Two different processing software applications were used, CiteSpace and Bibliometrix. This research field is characterized by high interdisciplinarity and a rapid increase in the subject categories of engineering applications. The basic supporting categories mainly included “Environmental Sciences & Ecology”, “Plant Sciences”, and “Agriculture”. In addition, there has been a trend in recent years to focus on categories such as “Engineering, Multidisciplinary”, “Engineering, Chemical”, and “Green & Sustainable Science & Technology”. “Soil”, “hyperaccumulator”, “enrichment mechanism/process”, and “enhance technology” were found to be the main research hotspots. “Wastewater”, “field crops”, “genetically engineered microbes/plants”, and “agromining” may be the main research trends. Bibliometric and scientometric analysis are useful methods to qualitatively and quantitatively measure research hotspots and trends in phytoremediation of HM, and can be widely used to help new researchers to review the available research in a certain research field.

Keywords: CiteSpace; research hotpots; research trends; phytoremediation; heavy metal (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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