Bibliometric analysis of global publications related to drought risk and resilience using the Scopus database

Abstract

Drought can be realised as a significant natural hazard and has a high potential to transform into a disaster. Drought is different from other environmental hazards. It can happen worldwide without considering climatic regions resulting in many socio-economic and environmental impacts. This study was conducted to identify the global trend related to drought risk and resilience research. Bibliometric analysis was performed using the data retrieved from the Scopus database. The period covered from 1934 to December 2021. Ten thousand one hundred ninety-three documents were analysed using both software of biblioshiny and VosViewer mainly under six themes, i.e. sources, authors, institutions, countries, documents, and keywords. The results highlighted that the Journal of Science of the Total Environment (198), Journal of Water (157), and Journal of Hydrology (136) are the three leading journals in terms of publishing articles related to drought risk and resilience by December 2021. Wang, Y. (93), Zhang, Q. (81), and Zhang, J. (79) are the top three prominent authors related to producing documents. Singh, V.P. (26) and Zhang, Q. (26) are the top authors regarding the local impact H index value. The University of Chinese Academy is the top institution for citation by the organisation. The USA (56546), China (17543) and the United Kingdom (17248) are the top three countries receiving citations. Forest, Ecology and Management, published by Allen, C.D. (2010), is the highest globally cited document. “Drought", "Climate Change", and "Risk Assessment" are the top three keywords used in the documents. "Drought", "Climate Change", "Risk", "Adaptation", and "Vulnerability" are the main five themes that show the rapidly growing trend in the field of research on drought hazards throughout the world. The results of this paper will help drought researchers to determine the future direction of their research.