Bibliometric Analysis of Research on the Water and Sediment Environment in the Middle  Lower Changjiang River Basin

Abstract To elucidate research progress, hotspots, and trends regarding the water and sediment environment in the Changjiang River Basin, a bibliometric analysis of research published on the water and sediment in the middle-lower reaches of the Changjiang River, from 1991 to 2020, was conducted, according to the Web of Science Core database. With regard to the number of papers, distribution of research institutions, tracking of research hotspots, related disciplines, highly cited literature, etc., a comprehensive statistical analysis was conducted to investigate the research characteristics, research status, and development trends of the water & sediment environment in the middle-lower section of the Changjiang River. Combined with the latest trends in water and sediment environment research, important future research directions were investigated. The results indicated that, among the literature, the Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS) was the largest contributor to study on the water and sediment environment of the Changjiang River, followed by universities along the Changjiang River. Chinese scientific research institutes paid the most attention to changes in the water and sediment environment of the Changjiang River and cooperated on an international level with other countries. From the perspective of discipline distribution, the number of papers on ecological environment was the highest, followed by that on geological environment, water resources, engineering, and oceanography. The amount of research conducted on water and sediment transport, riverbed change, water pollution, and other issues was relatively high. According to the highly cited literature, water contamination and sediment were the main concerns. Combined with high-frequency keywords — and by consulting the relevant literature — this paper presented the hot spots of the water and sediment environment in the middle-lower reaches of the Changjiang River. It is determined that the implementation of water conservancy projects in the upper reaches of the Changjiang River has changed the path, release mechanism, and role of phosphorus, as well as the ecological environment of the Changjiang River Basin and its estuary. Change of phosphorus flux and its effect on environment are one of the most important directions for future water and sediment environment research.