Examining the evolution and convergence of wood modification and environmental impact assessment in research

Abstract

We performed a bibliometric analysis of peer-reviewed publications on wood modification and environmental impact assessment of wood retrieved from the Scopus® database. We used data mining and network analysis tools to investigate the development of the field over time. We explore both wood modification and environmental impact assessment separately, and investigate where the publication record overlaps. Our research revealed that in recent years both topics have produced sharp increases in the number of publications, and have diversified greatly in recent years. Additionally, there were differences in the author collaboration patterns between each field. Fewer authors have contributed over a longer period of time in the wood modification publication record, whereas more authors have contributed over a shorter period of time to the environmental impact assessment of wood record, but they tend to collaborate less frequently. These methods allow researchers and industry members to quickly explore trends in research topics, the number of publications, where research is being conducted, and the growing network of researchers publishing together.