Highly cited articles in wind tunnel-related research: a bibliometric analysis

A systematic assessment of research trends on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in different environmental compartments using bibliometric parameters

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a large group of diverse hazardous organic compounds that are relatively stable and widely distributed throughout the world's ecosystems due to various anthropogenic activities. They are generally less soluble in water and have a low vapour pressure, but dissolve easily in adipose tissues; and they bioaccumulate into high concentrations in aquatic animals, thereby exerting a variety of hazardous and lethal effects. Despite the plethora of research studies on these pollutants, only few bibliometric reviews on the subject have been documented in the literature. As a result, the present study aimed to assess the research growth on PAHs-related studies across different ecosystems. Science Citation Index-Expanded of Web of Science was explored to obtain the research studies that were conducted between 1991 and 2020, and RStudio was utilized for the data analysis. Annual productivity increased arithmetically over the years, with a 9.2% annual growth rate and a collaboration index of 2.52. Foremost among the trend topics in this field of study include soil, sediments, biodegradation, bioremediation, bioavailability, and source apportionment. China, USA, Spain, France and Germany were the five top-ranked countries in terms of publications and citations over the three decades investigated; however, Korea, Japan, United Kingdom, Germany, and Canada were ranked as the five leading countries in terms of collaboration per published article (MCP ratio). Therefore, efforts to strengthen international collaboration in this field of study especially among the less participating countries and continents are thus encouraged. The findings of this study are expected to provide future direction for the upcoming researchers in identifying the hot spots in this field of study as well as research leaders whom to seek collaboration in their future research plan.

A mixed method assessment of research productivity on microplastics in various compartments in the environment

Microplastic distribution and pollution as emerging contaminants have become a leading environmental issue globally, owing to their ecological and health implications on biota and humans. Although several bibliometric studies have been reported on microplastics, they are mostly restricted to selected environmental media. As a result, the present study aimed at assessing the literature growth trend of microplastics-related research and their distribution in the environment using a bibliometric approach. The Web of Science Core Collection was explored to retrieve published articles on microplastics from 2006 to 2021, and the data were analysed using the Biblioshiny package of RStudio. This study also highlighted filtration, separation, coagulation, membrane technology, flotation, bionanomaterials, bubble barrier devices, and sedimentation as MP remediation techniques. In the present study, a total of 1118 documents were collected from the literature search; the documents/author and authors/document were 0.308 and 3.25, respectively. A significant growth rate of 65.36% was recorded with notable progress between 2018 and 2021. China, the USA, Germany, the UK, and Italy recorded the highest number of publications within the period under consideration. A collaboration index of 3.32 was also relatively high, with the Netherlands, Malaysia, Iran, France, and Mexico having the highest MCP ratios, respectively. It is anticipated that findings from this study will help the policymakers in addressing issues concerning microplastic pollution assist the researchers in identifying areas to concentrate their studies, and where to seek collaboration in their future research plans.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13762-023-04916-7.

Analysis of the Temporal Distribution Characteristics of PM2.5 Concentration and Risk Evaluation of Its Inhalation Exposure

PM_2.5 poses a threat to human health. It is important to evaluate the potential risk of PM_2.5 inhalation exposure when people are located in different spatiotemporal activity locations. In this study, the PM_2.5 concentration was detected by the atmospheric cruise monitoring system (ACMS), a new detection technology used for city-wide PM_2.5 concentration monitoring. People were divided into eight categories of five typical activity patterns, including rest (R), sedentary behavior (SB), light physical activity (LPA), moderate physical activity (MPA), and vigorous physical activity (VPA). The PM_2.5 inhalation exposure risk was then estimated for these typical activities. The research results showed that the time sequence data of the ACMS had a similar tendency to change as those of the traditional air quality monitoring stations (AQMS). Although both passed the stationarity test, the relative error (RE) of the monthly average PM_2.5 concentration between the ACMS and AQMS was 7.5-14%. RE was usually lower when the individual air quality index (IAQI) of PM_2.5 was higher. Otherwise, RE was higher. The research results also showed that PM_2.5 exposure was positively correlated with PM_2.5 concentration, respiration rate, and human activity patterns. Because adults had a higher monthly average potential exposure (MAPE) than minors and that males had a higher MAPE than females. The potential exposure generated by LPA and MPA reached 50.76% of the total potential exposure (TPE). VPA brought about a 14.7% increase in the TPE. The research findings are helpful to understand the temporal distribution characteristics of PM_2.5 concentrations and guide the potential risk evaluation of PM_2.5 inhalation exposure.

Trends in diabetes research outputs in South Africa over 30 years from 2010 to 2019: A bibliometric analysis

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is one of the leading causes of mortality in South Africa, which is impelled by people's consumption of unhealthy diets and lifestyles, negligence about an individual's health status, and increased urbanization. DM can be linked to several human diseases and thus, making it an important public health issue in the South African health sector. Therefore, it is necessary to assess the level of research that has been conducted in the country on diabetes, in a quest for solutions against the deadly disease. Hence, the present study aimed to map diabetes-related research in South Africa from 2010 to 2019. Data on the subject was retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) and bibliometrix package in Rstudio statistical software was used to analyze the data while VOSviewer was explored for data visualization networks. Our analysis revealed that the annual growth rate of publication trends was 23.2%. The authors per document were 23.3 with a collaboration index of 23.4. From the 416 articles analyzed, Islam MS (n = 34) was the most prolific author and the top active institution was University of KwaZulu-Natal (n = 165) and the top journal was Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice (n = 20). Findings from this study reveal that the quantity of research on diabetes has significantly increased over the decade, and the outcomes of this scientific progress can guide future research and substantially provide the basic needs for improving management procedures for diabetes in the country.

Economic assessment and ranking of wind power potential using fuzzy-TOPSIS approach

In this study, we proposed integrated tools to evaluate the wind power potential, economic viability, and prioritize 15 proposed sites for the installation of wind farms. Initially, we used modified Weibull distribution model coupled with power law to assess the wind power potential. Secondly, we employed value cost method to estimate per unit cost ($/kWh) of proposed sites. Lastly, we used Fuzzy Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (F-TOPSIS) to rank the best alternatives. The results indicate that Pakistan has enormous wind power potential that cost varies from 0.06 $/kWh to 0.58 $/kWh; thus, sites S12, S13, S14, and S15 are considered as the most economic viable locations for the installation of wind power project, while remaining sites are considered to be less important, due to other complexities. The further analysis using Fuzzy-TOPSIS method reveals that site S13 is the most optimal location followed by S12, S14, and S14 for the development of wind power project. We proposed that government should formulate wind power policy for the implementation of wind power projects in order to meet energy demand of the country.

Global development and trend of wind tunnel research from 1991 to 2014: a bibliometric analysis

Development and trend of global wind tunnel research from 1991 to 2014 were evaluated by bibliometric analysis. Based on the statistical data from Science Citation Index Expanded from Web of Science, publication performance of wind tunnel research was analyzed from various aspects, including publication output, category distributions, journals, countries, institutions, leading articles, and words analysis. The results show that scientific articles associated with wind tunnel increased dramatically, with Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics as the most productive journal. The USA has been leading in publication output since 1991, while China has become a new-rising force of wind tunnel research. NASA was the dominant institution in wind tunnel field which published most single institution articles and nationally and internationally collaborative articles. The citation lifecycles of the leading articles exhibited different patterns of their trends, but all reached a plateau in certain years. Based on synthesized analysis of title words, abstract words, author keywords, and KeyWords Plus, computational fluid dynamic (CFD) was found to be a hot issue, which needs experimental validation by wind tunnels. Wind loads and wind turbine also caused increasing attentions while lepidoptera and sex pheromone were less studied. In the wind tunnel articles, numerical simulation of CFD was increasingly mentioned while field measurement showed minor change, suggesting the rapid developments of CFD.