A bibliometric-based evaluation on environmental research in the Arab world

Bibliometric analysis of immigration and environmental degradation: evidence from past decades

The aim of this paper is to examine immigration and environmental degradation using bibliometric analysis. This paper also analyzes sources of publication, authorship, citations, distributions publications and other bibliometric indicators. The study focuses on a total of 1372 articles published from 2000 to 2020. These articles were collected through an automated process from the Scopus database and later analyzed using techniques such as bibliometric indicators analysis, VOSviewer, and Perish or Publish. The research identified 991 articles from varieties of published sources. The topic of immigrants and environmental degradation has been an emerging topic since 1981. Starting in 2000, most of the scholars actively producing an articles pertinent to this topic. Most of the articles were published in journals, and English is the primary language of research. United States is the leading country in contributing the publications. Meanwhile, the most significant fields in which the sources were produced were environmental science, agricultural and biological sciences, arts and humanities and earth and planetary sciences. However, some limitations has been found. It has been suggested for future research, to lengthen this work to other databases, as well as bibliometric analyses of immigration and environmental degradation in developed and developing countries by adding a new keyword such as energy consumption and climate change. This paper aims to assess recent trends in the expansion of academic literature on immigration and environmental degradation using the bibliometric analysis method. Network visualization and bibliometric indicators are used in this paper to present the results.

Library and information science research in the Arab World: a bibliometric analysis 1951–2021

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the research productivity of library and information science (LIS) authors affiliated with the 22 countries of the Arab League. It also identifies the top countries, organizations, authors, journals, natures of collaboration, and frequently used keywords in LIS research in the Arab world.

Design/methodology/approach

Bibliometric methods were used to evaluate the research performance of the authors affiliated with library organizations in the Arab region. The Elsevier Scopus database was selected for data retrieval. A comprehensive search strategy was adopted to retrieve 863 publications contributed by LIS authors affiliated with the Arab countries. VOS viewer, Biblioshiny, BiblioAnalyitics, Microsoft Access and Microsoft Excel were used for data visualization and analysis.

Findings

This paper presents the dynamics and the state of the LIS research in the Arab region published between 1951 and 2021. The results of the study have highlighted an upward trend in the growth of the publications, especially in the past four years. The largest number of studies were published in the year 2020. The country-wise analysis ranked Kuwait and Saudi Arabia as the top LIS research producing countries with five and four researchers, respectively. The Kuwait University, the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals and the Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University were the three most productive organizations. Academic libraries, social media, bibliometrics, information-seeking behavior, information literacy and knowledge management were identified as the major areas of interest for the researchers. Internet and open access were topics that had gained recent popularity, while the digital library, research data management, green librarianship, link data, cloud computing, library leadership, library automation and artificial intelligence were identified as areas requiring further attention. Furthermore, the single-author pattern was found to be the most preferred pattern.

Practical implications

The findings of this study would help prospective researchers in choosing the neglected areas of research that require further investigation. They would also help policymakers in identifying factors that need more attention and allocation of research funds.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first comprehensive bibliometric study that presents a holistic picture of the LIS research in the Arab region.

Contribution of researchers in the Arab region to peer-reviewed literature on mental health and well-being of university students

OBJECTIVE

The current study aimed at investigating the contribution of researchers in the Arab region to the field of mental health and well-being of university students using bibliometric tools.

METHOD

Relevant literature was obtained from the Scopus database for the period from 2001-2020. Examples of keywords used in the query included "college student", "university student", and undergraduate student" combined with keywords such as wellbeing, wellness, suicide, and anxiety. No language restriction was used. Only research articles were considered. The search query was validated. Bibliometric indicators and mappings such as active countries, institutions, authors, highly cited documents, and the most frequently encountered topics were identified and discussed to shed light on research gaps in the Arab region. Research gaps were also identified. The analysis was carried out on February 12, 2021.

RESULTS

The search query returned 309 research articles published by authors from 17 different Arab countries. Less than one-third (n = 97, 31.4%) of the retrieved articles were carried out in collaboration with authors from 39 non-Arab countries, mainly from the United Kingdom and the United States. The overall contribution of researchers from the Arab region to global research in the field was 5.6%. In total, 1212 authors from 791 different institutions participated in publishing the retrieved research articles. At the country level, Saudi Arabia (n = 125, 40.5%) ranked first, followed by Jordan, Egypt, and Lebanon. At the institutional level, The University of Jordan (n = 25, 8.1%) ranked first, followed by King Saud University, and Kuwait University. The retrieved articles included 132 (42.7%) articles on stress/distress, 95 (30.7%) on anxiety, 61 (19.7%) on depression. Knowledge gaps on suicide, eating disorders, substance use, and happiness were identified. The retrieved articles appeared in 193 different journals and approximately two-thirds of the active journal were in general medicine, public health, and education.

CONCLUSIONS

The contribution of researchers in the Arab region to the field showed a noticeable increase with time. However, important research gaps were identified. The contribution was confined to authors from a limited number of Arab countries. Funding and international research collaboration for the mental health and well-being of students need to be strengthened.

Mapping environmental impact assessment research landscapes in the Arab world using visualization and bibliometric techniques

Interests and concerns on environmental issues have attracted much attention over the past few decades. This is in harmony with the growing understanding of environmental impacts associated with human activities and their role in degrading ecosystems. In line with these concerns, considerable advances in science and technology to assess, mitigate, or lessen these adverse impacts have emerged (i.e., environmental impact assessment (EIA) methodologies). The involvement of EIA in sustainable development has become a prevalent topic in research in either developed and developing countries. The present work investigated the research status, development trends, and hotspots of EIA in a region with massive environmental challenges; the Arab world. Bibliometric analysis and visualization mapping were utilized with an objective of revealing and evaluating the developments in knowledge on EIA from the Arab world. A sum of 595 documents was the productivity of the Arab world on EIA (2.1% of total global productivity). Most of the studies were performed by scholars in Egypt (143 documents; 24.0%), followed by Saudi Arabia (96 documents; 16.1%), and Tunisia (68 documents; 11.4%). France, the USA, and the UK were, respectively, the most collaborated countries with the Arab world on EIA. Most of the publications on EIA were in prestigious journals in relation to environmental sciences. King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia and University of Kuwait were the most productive institutions (24 documents/institution). Topics in relation to assessing different environmental impacts on the quality and quantity of water will continue to be vital themes of research. While, the utilization of remote sensing, geographic information systems, risk assessment, life cycle assessment, bioaccumulation, and biomarkers techniques in assessing environmental impacts will continue to be dominant as efficient tools in conducting EIA related research. The outcomes displayed, in general, a rapidly and steadily rising interests on EIA. However, the development of regional experience, increasing of funds and advancing of competencies will further promote research activities on EIA.

Mapping of climate change research in the Arab world: a bibliometric analysis

The attendant threats of climate change in the Arab world are accelerating at a high pace. The realization of these risks has promoted scientific research activities in climate change (i.e., modeling of climate change effects and development of mitigation and adaptation measures). A bibliometric analysis was desired to trace the status and trends of these research activities with an origin from the Arab world. The aim was to contribute to a better understanding of the scientific knowledge of climate change and its impacts and survey its evolution. Moreover, it is aimed at enabling recommendations for future research activities in this field. The data of this analysis were retrieved from the Scopus database using the most common terms of climate change to search titles, abstracts, and keywords. The collected data, in the form of documents referring to climate change, enabled to extract and further assess different quantitative and qualitative bibliometric indicators. Productivity of countries, sources, and institutions; collaboration figures; impact of published research; and citation rates were being among the assessed indicators. Subsequently, the data were analyzed using visualization maps and clustering techniques to characterize the hot spots and vital topics of research. A total of 2074 documents (1.2% of the total global research output) were retrieved from the Arab world. Saudi Arabia took the leading positions in terms of the number of publications (473 documents; 22.8%), impact of research (Hirsch index (h-index), 48), collected citations (10,573 citations), and number of documents from collaboration (389 documents). The USA was the most collaborated country with the Arab world (344 documents; 17.0%), followed by France (311 documents; 15.0%). The most productive journal was Plos One (42 documents; 2.0%), followed by the Arabian Journal of Geosciences (38 documents; 1.8%). Three institutions from Saudi Arabia were in the forefront in terms of research productivity (King Abdulaziz University, 124 documents; King Saud University, 117 documents; and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, 102 documents). The vital climate change-related topics which will continue to be active in the future are climate modeling, physiology, genetics, and animals. The present data indicate a committed scientific research progress. Increasing the fund, capacity building, and development of regional experience with climate change-related disasters are key factors to promote the scientific research in this field.

Bibliometric analysis of research on the trends in autophagy

Background

Autophagy is an important mechanism to maintain homeostasis in cells. It has been linked with ageing and many currently incurable diseases, including heart disease, cancer, myopathies, neurodegeneration, and diabetes. Autophagy research is very important for identifying better treatments. This study aimed to explore the hotspots of autophagy research published from different countries, organizations, and authors.

Methods

Between 1962 and 2018, articles published about autophagy were identified in the Web of Science database. The total and annual number of articles, citations, impact factor, Hirsch (H)-index, number of article citations, productive authors, and involved journals were collected for quantitative and qualitative comparisons.

Results

From 1962 to 2018, 18,811 autophagy-related articles written in English were published. Most were from China (6,731). The United States dominated in citation frequency (391,030) and h-index (264). Among related journals, Autophagy published the most articles (1,388), followed by Plos One (585) and Oncotarget (392). Daniel Klionsky was the most productive author, with 171 publications. The article “LC3, a mammalian homologue of yeast Apg8p, is localized in autophagosome membranes after processing” was cited most frequently. The top-ranked keyword was “degradation” of macroautophagy.

Conclusions

Publication of articles about autophagy has increased notably from 1962 to 2018, and has increased annually. The general quality of publications from China is still in need of improvement. Autophagy research has shifted gradually from basic studies to clinical studies in recent years.

The way forward confronting eco-environmental challenges during land-use practices: a bibliometric analysis

With rapid urbanisation and industrialisation, land-use practice, while satisfying the ever-increasing desires of our material civilisation in the short term, may undermine natural ecosystems on a local, regional and global scale in the long run. Innovative and sustainable land-use practices should be developed in response, so that eco-environmental problems can assessed and dealt with during the whole process of land-use planning, construction, operation, maintenance and management. Using a bibliometric analysis, this study has traced global trends in land-use research from 1992 to 2016, as indexed in the Science Citation Index EXPANDED (SCI-EXPANDED) and the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI). A novel method called 'word cluster analysis' has revealed that hotspot analysis is one of the emerging techniques, tools and strategies used to respond to, improve, and protect deteriorating ecosystems during land use. Based on involving various elements, the emerging analytical techniques and tools, including geographical information systems (GIS) and remote sensing, have attracted attention for their ability to assess and solve increasingly serious eco-environmental problems, such as climate change, deforestation, soil erosion, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and eutrophication. Ecosystem services, biodiversity conservation, protected areas, and sustainable development are also potential resilience strategies used to confront eco-environmental destruction. The maximum benefits that can be derived from natural ecosystems should be pursued to achieve environmentally sustainable land-use development, strengthening the socio-economy and eco-environment, as well as enhancing the well-being of people and nature.

State of the art on granular sludge by using bibliometric analysis

With rapid industrialization and urbanization in the nineteenth century, the activated sludge process (ASP) has experienced significant steps forward in the face of greater awareness of and sensitivity toward water-related environmental problems. Compared with conventional flocculent ASP, the major advantages of granular sludge are characterized by space saving and resource recovery, where the methane and hydrogen recovery in anaerobic granular and 50% more space saving, 30-50% of energy consumption reduction, 75% of footprint cutting, and even alginate recovery in aerobic granular. Numerous engineers and scientists have made great efforts to explore the superiority over the last 40 years. Therefore, a bibliometric analysis was desired to trace the global trends of granular sludge research from 1992 to 2016 indexed in the SCI-EXPANDED. Articles were published in 276 journals across 44 subject categories spanning 1420 institutes across 68 countries. Bioresource Technology (293, 11.9%), Water Research (235, 9.6%), and Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology (127, 5.2%) dominated in top three journals. The Engineering (991, 40.3%), China (906, 36.9%), and Harbin Inst Technol, China (114, 4.6%) were the most productive subject category, country, and institution, respectively. The hotspot is the emerging techniques depended on granular reactors in response to the desired removal requirements and bio-energy production (primarily in anaerobic granular sludge). In view of advanced and novel bio-analytical methods, the characteristics, functions, and mechanisms for microbial granular were further revealed in improving and innovating the granulation techniques. Therefore, a promising technique armed with strengthened treatment efficiency and efficient resource and bio-energy recovery can be achieved.

Benchmarking the scientific research on wastewater-energy nexus by using bibliometric analysis

With an exponential increase in urbanization and industrialization, water pollution is an inevitable consequence of relatively lagging wastewater treatment facilities. The conventional activated sludge process for wastewater treatment primarily emphasizes the removal of harmful substances to maintain increasingly stringent effluent discharged standards, which is considered an energy-intensive technique. Therefore, innovative and sustainable wastewater treatment should pay more attention to energy and resource recovery in dealing with fossil fuel depletion, global-scale energy security, and climate change. A bibliometric analysis was applied to trace wastewater-energy nexus-related research during the period 1991 to 2015, with respect to the Science Citation Index EXPANDED (SCI-EXPANDED) database. Journal of Hazardous Materials, ranking 1st in h-index (79), was the most productive journal (431, 4.5%) during the same time, followed by International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (422, 4.4%) and Water Research (393, 4.1%) journal, the latter owning a topmost journal impact factor. Though, China (2154, 22.5%) was the most productive country, while the USA with highest h-index (88) was the favorest collaborative country. The Chinese Academy of Sciences, China (241, 2.5%) produced the maximum publications. A novel method called "word cluster analysis" showed that the emerging sustainable processes and novel renewable energy application are applied in response to the desire for a net wastewater-energy nexus system. Based on different wastewater types, the emerging energy and sources recovery treatment processes of Anammox, anaerobic digestion, and microbial fuel cells gained extensive innovation. Evaluation indicators including sustainability, life cycle assessment, and environmental impact were appropriately used to dissert feasibility of the novel treatment methods in regard of renewable energy utilization, energy savings, and energy recovery. The transformation of the new concept of "broaden income source, economize on expenditures and exploit inner potential" should be generalized in order to achieve an environmentally sustainable development of wastewater-energy nexus system.

A Bibliometric Analysis of Research on Supported Ionic Liquid Membranes during the 1995-2015 Period: Study of the Main Applications and Trending Topics

A bibliometric analysis based on Scopus database was performed to identify the global research trends related to Supported Ionic Liquid Membranes (SILMs) during the time period from 1995 to 2015. This work tries to improve the understanding of the most relevant research topics and applications. The results from the analysis reveal that only after 2005 the research efforts focused on SILMs became significant, since the references found before that year are scarce. The most important research works on the four main application groups for SILMs defined in this work (carbon dioxide separation, other gas phase separations, pervaporation and liquid phase separations) were summarized in this paper. Carbon dioxide separation appeared as the application that has received by far the most attention according to the research trends during the analysed period. Comments about other significant applications that are gaining attention, such as the employment of SILMs in analytical tasks or their consideration for the production of fuel cells, have been included.