Bibliometric and Visual Analysis of Natural Capital Studies

Natural capital is an important part of the ecological service systems, a necessary condition for human survival and development, and an important support for the sustainable and healthy development of the three dimensions of society, economy and environment. Based on the core ensemble database of Web of science (WOS) database, this paper uses CiteSpace and VOSviewer software to visualise and analyze the subject development trend and hot research of natural capital from 2001 to 2022. The results show that: 1. The major publishing countries in natural capital are the United States, China, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada, with the United States in first place followed by China, and China and the United States are far ahead of the rest of the world in natural capital research. 2. The Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Australian National University, the University of Oxford, Stanford University, the University of Queensland and Beijing Normal University are the top six publishers in natural capital research institutions, with the Chinese Academy of Sciences leading the way in terms of the number of articles published. 3. In the past 20 years, the number of articles published on natural capital research has been growing exponentially, with an explosive growth during 2013-2022. 4. Research hotspots cover resource management, sustainable development, climate change, ecological services, environmental protection and biodiversity, etc. , indicating that natural capital needs scientific and technological support from multi-disciplinary fields, and in-depth research in this field also promotes the development of other disciplines.