Research on biochar via a comprehensive scientometric approach

Abstract

A comprehensive statistical study related to biochar was conducted by using the scientometric method. The publications are mainly in the form of articles (over 16 000), accounting for 87.7% of the total, which demonstrates that researchers have great interest in this research field. Among these articles, 96.8% were written and published in English and came from 2655 different journals. The rate of increase in the annual number of publications was rapid from 2010 to 2017, and it was predicted that the cumulative number of articles concerning biochar will exceed 20 000 by the year 2020. At least one article from 154 countries or regions has been published, and every continent except Antarctica has had articles published over the past 20 years period. The percentage of collaborative articles was 71.9% and the collaboration between the USA and China has been the most fruitful. In addition, the Chinese Academy of Sciences is the research institute with the most publications. Furthermore, over 60% of the articles were published as a result of the cooperation and connection between the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. The article published in Nature had the highest citation numbers, while Environmental Science & Technology had the most articles (4) that were selected as the top 20 for the most-cited articles. The agriculture research category had the highest average citations among the top four categories (i.e., environmental sciences and ecology, agriculture, chemistry and engineering).