Mapping the desalination journal: A systematic bibliometric study over 54 years

Abstract

Desalination is one of the most important techniques that can provide potable water to meet the ever-growing demand for fresh water in many regions. Over the years, desalination techniques have been significantly improved to be an economically viable option to meet the increasing demand. In 1966, the Desalination journal was founded as a research platform to assess the progress and evaluate novel techniques in water desalting. This review follows the evolution of the Desalination journal from 1966 to 2020 by utilizing scientometrics analysis. A comprehensive analysis has been carried out to review bibliometric data for the journal over the specified period using Web of Science and Scopus databases to identify the research trend. The analysis covers seven main research indicators: growth trends, productive countries and institutions, productive authors, mostly used keywords, citation and co-citation. The study explored more than 14,500 articles published in the Desalination journal. Furthermore, it examined key fields in the journal, including research trends, the most cited papers, the number of publications in each year, the most publishing countries. Finally, the review offers an overview of future research trends. This bibliometric analysis helps the readers to identify the active areas in water desalination and increase the visibility of the published papers. The findings of this review can provide the desalination researchers a comprehensive overview of the research direction in the field as well as an outlook for the upcoming research directions.