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A bibliometric review of vegetation response to climate change

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Abstract

Global assessment of vegetation response to climate change (VRCC) studies was conducted to reveal the research evolution, current research hotspots and better understanding of dominant themes in VRCC areas of research from 1992 to 2019 through the use of bibliometrics. A total of 186 articles with the search term “Vegetation response to Climate change” were retrieved using the Web of Science (WOS) database. The annual growth rate of 10.3% connotes that research on VRCC has been increasing over time during the survey period. Average citations per article experienced many fluctuations over the years rather than maintaining the same growth rate, which connotes that this field of research reached was unstable in terms of average total citation per document. Results show that China ranked first followed by the USA and the UK, and this shows the dominance of these countries on VRCC studies over the years in review. Results from corresponding authors’ nationalities show that multiple-country publications are relatively low compared to articles from single-country publications which showed a dominant trend. Hence, we can infer that most studies on VRCC were sustained by single-country publications. Results from this study revealed top-cited articles, the top global distribution of documents, academic collaboration, most relevant keywords and Word TreeMap of high-frequency keywords. The findings of this study show that “temperature” is in a central position in all keywords with the largest significant appearance in the field. In conclusion, the findings from this study may be applicable for planning and managing vegetation and forest ecosystem research and provide hints for future development.

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Data availability

Data used in this study are available on request. Requests for access to these data should be made to Gbenga Abayomi Afuye [afuyeabayomi@gmail.com].

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Acknowledgements

The bibliometric data used in this study are from the Web of Science (WOS) Core Collection database from 1992 to 2019 and derived from the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-E), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), and Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI) by Thomson Reuters (Philadelphia, USA). The authors are grateful to the Govan Mbeki Research and Development Centre (GMRDC), University Fort Hare, South Africa, for the funding of this research and for creating an enabling environment for research.

Funding

This research received funding from Govan Mbeki Research and Development Centre (GMRDC), University Fort Hare, Alice, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Fort Hare, Alice, 5700, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

    Gbenga Abayomi Afuye, Ahmed Mukalazi Kalumba, Emmanuel Tolulope Busayo & Israel Ropo Orimoloye

  2. Geospatial Application, Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability Lab – GACCES, University of Fort Hare, Alice 5700, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

    Gbenga Abayomi Afuye, Ahmed Mukalazi Kalumba & Emmanuel Tolulope Busayo

  3. Centre for Environmental Management, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, University of the Free State, 339, Bloemfontein, 9300, South Africa

    Israel Ropo Orimoloye

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  1. Gbenga Abayomi Afuye
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  2. Ahmed Mukalazi Kalumba
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  3. Emmanuel Tolulope Busayo
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  4. Israel Ropo Orimoloye
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Gbenga Abayomi Afuye conceptualized and wrote the methodology and the first draft of the paper. Ahmed Mukalazi Kalumba and Israel Ropo Orimoloye supervised the study. Emmanuel Tolulope Busayo reviewed and edited the paper.

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Correspondence to Gbenga Abayomi Afuye.

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Afuye, G.A., Kalumba, A.M., Busayo, E.T. et al. A bibliometric review of vegetation response to climate change. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 18578–18590 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-16319-7

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