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Article

International Development Trends in the Field of Agricultural Resources and the Environment

by
Limin Chuan
†,
Shijie Qi
†,
Hui Zhang
,
Qian Jia
,
Ailing Wang
* and
Jingjuan Zhao
*
Institute of Data Science and Agricultural Economics, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing 100097, China
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
These authors contributed equally to this work.
Sustainability 2024, 16(15), 6516; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16156516 (registering DOI)
Submission received: 1 July 2024 / Revised: 24 July 2024 / Accepted: 24 July 2024 / Published: 30 July 2024
Browse Figures
Versions Notes

Abstract

:
The development trends and research layout of agricultural resources and the environment (ARE) are the focus of global attention. In this study, we compiled a data set of SCI papers published in the ARE field since the 13th Five-Year Plan. Thereafter, the topic extraction model of Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) was used to mine the text content so as to explore the research layout of global ARE. The results show that, between 2016 and the time of this study, 31,559 articles were published in the ARE field, exhibiting an overall upward trend. During this time, China and the United States were the main forces in paper publishing. The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, and the US Department of Agriculture were the top three publishing institutions. Research institutes in China, the United States, Russia, Sweden, the Netherlands, Brazil, and Australia cooperated closely, and the CAS was at the center of the cooperation network. The clustering results of text topics based on the LDA model show that three topics—namely, the interaction mechanisms of plants, the rhizosphere, and microorganisms; the mechanisms and predictive evaluation of soil landslides or erosion; and the decomposition and interaction response of organic matter in agroforestry ecosystems—have been the hot research areas in this field since 2016. The management and efficient utilization of farmland nutrients, and the technology and mechanisms of agricultural waste resource utilization have become key research directions since 2019. The research layouts of China and the United States in this field were analyzed, and the similarities and differences were compared. In addition, suggestions for the future development of ARE are proposed. This study is of great significance for the overall development trend of ARE, the timely tracking of scientific research hotspots, outlining key research and development directions, and promoting scientific and technological innovation.

1. Introduction

Rural revitalization and building beautiful, harmonious, and livable villages require the efficient use of agricultural resources and the protection of the agricultural ecological environment. The research and development of agricultural resources and the environment (ARE) is an important first-level discipline through which to study the scientific, rational, and efficient use of agricultural resources, ensure the quality and safety of agricultural products, and promote the green and sustainable development of agriculture [1]. However, due to the many associated challenges, such as global population growth, resource shortage, climate change, soil degradation, biodiversity decline, etc., ARE development trends and new research progress have become a focus for scientific, technical, and management decision-makers. In addition, these problems are addressed in this study.
Over the decades, research in the ARE field has produced rich results, which have promoted green and sustainable agricultural development. In terms of efficient resource utilization, new technologies, new models, and new products have been adopted to improve organic and inorganic fertilizer utilization efficiency [2,3,4,5] and the efficient transformation and value-added utilization of agricultural wastes, such as straw, vegetable residues, and livestock manure [6,7]. In response to climate change, the emission reduction effects of greenhouse gases such as CH4 and N2O under different agronomic measures have been studied, including reasonable fertilizer input, scientific irrigation, straw returning, green manure mulching, organic fertilizer input, and rotation modes [8,9,10,11]. Regarding soil pollution remediation, the present situation, the types and causes of pollutants, adsorption and resolution, toxicological effects, elemental interactions, and the physical, chemical, and biotechnological mechanisms of soil remediation have been studied [12,13,14]. In terms of soil erosion and fertility improvement, studies on the mechanisms and process of soil erosion, the technology and modes of soil and water conservation, the causes and improvement of soil desertification, acidification, and salinization, the quality evaluation of farmland, the reduction in obstacle factors in low- and medium-yield fields, and the improvement of the productivity potential have been carried out [15,16,17,18,19]. Regarding biodiversity conservation, various influencing factors and management measures, such as cropping systems, land preparation, fertilization, sowing, and field management, and the mechanisms of interaction between biodiversity, nutrient utilization, and pest resistance have been systematically studied [20,21,22].
However, it is found that preliminary work often only pays attention to research into a certain method or technology, or certain influencing factors or mechanisms from a micro-perspective. Thus, it lacks comprehensiveness and systematicness from a discipline perspective and does not track the development of the whole field from a macro-perspective. Paper documents contain the details of scientific knowledge development; bibliometrics, however, can show the development trends, research layouts, and latest progress in specific and research fields from macro- and micro-perspectives.
In assessing the development trends in ARE from a macro-perspective, we constructed a data set of papers published in the ARE field since the 13th Five-Year Plan from the perspective of bibliometrics. Then, using the theme extraction model to mine text content, we analyzed the global ARE research layout in recent years, assessed the overall development trend of the discipline, and identified scientific research hotspots, thus providing a reference for ARE development and sci-tech innovation in China.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Data Sources

InCites is a scientific research evaluation and analysis database based on the seven citation databases of the Web of Science core collection over the past 30 years. It contains comprehensive data resources, diversified indicators, rich visualization effects, and 14 disciplinary classification systems, making it easy to use, flexible, and adaptable to various analytical scenarios. In addition to Web of Science and ESI disciplines, we also used the SCADC classification adopted by the Office of the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council of China, which better met the analytical needs of this study. We took the ARE field as an example, researched the development trends, and developed a hot topic identification method based on the papers assessed. In the process of data extraction, “China SCADC Subject 97 Narrow” and “0903 Agricultural Resources and Environment Science” were selected from the InCites database research area, and paper data in this field from 2016 to 2021 were extracted on May 25, 2022. A total of 31,559 articles were retrieved. Then, the WOS numbers of these articles were extracted, the full record data of all articles (including the cited literature) were extracted from the Web of Science core collection, and the text format and Excel format were compiled as the entire data set for analysis.

2.2. Research Methodology

2.2.1. Statistical Methods

The Derwent Data Analyzer V9 (DDA V9) software can perform data cleaning, mining, and visualization, and it can help us to conduct precise bibliometric analyses. Using the DDA analysis tool combined with Excel and Web of Science’s built-in result analysis software, we analyzed the changing trends in the number of publications, major publishing countries and institutions, authors, journals, funding sources, research fields, and research topics, etc. [23].

2.2.2. Research Topic Analysis Method

The topic clustering model is a statistical model that clusters the implicit semantic structure of text through unsupervised learning. It is widely used to mine the potential semantic relationship and topic information from a text. The Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) model is an unsupervised model first proposed by Blei et al. [24] in 2003. It has excellent text parsing capabilities, which can autonomously extract deep semantic information from text content and further explore potential semantic connections between texts. Its significant advantage lies in its ability to efficiently model and process massive and structurally diverse text data. Therefore, it has been widely adopted in the field of scientific research for literature knowledge mining, precisely ascertaining research hotspots, the in-depth analysis of topic evolution, and rapidly detecting emerging frontier topics [25,26,27]. The LDA model is a generative probability model for discrete data sets (such as text corpus), which regards each data set as a mixture of a group of potential topics and summarizes each document using the topic probability distribution in the process of text modeling. In addition, the LDA model is based on the “bag of words” model, which assumes that documents can be viewed as a collection of word frequencies, ignoring the specific order relationships between words in the document, greatly simplifying the computational complexity of the model. This simplification makes LDA more efficient in processing large document sets and able to capture potential topic structures within the document set. The details of LDA for topic extraction are described in reference [28].
In this study, the LDA topic analysis tool was used to cluster and analyze the research topics in the above data sets. The number of research topics was determined using the perplexity parameter and consistency test. Perplexity is an evaluation index derived from the concept of entropy in information theory, which quantifies the degree of uncertainty in mapping a topic to each word under a specific topic. The size of the perplexity value is inversely proportional to the classification performance of the model on new samples; that is, the smaller the perplexity value, the higher the degree of certainty of the model in classifying new samples, and the better the corresponding classification performance. Topic consistency is mainly used to measure whether the words in a topic can express the topic. If the words of multiple topics are clustered together, the words of the same topic should be in the same category, which shows that they have better consistency.
We have developed a theme recognition system (V1.0) that includes LDA to show the themes distribution. When running the LDA model, the number of iterations was set to 100 and the range of text topics to 3–8. The perplexity, consistency, and distribution of each topic was then checked to determine the final number of topics.

3. Results

3.1. Macro-Development Trend Analysis

3.1.1. Total Number of Published Papers in Terms of Global and Annual Changes

The results show that the number of papers published in the ARE field in the previous six years was 31,559 (Figure 1), with an average annual number of 5260, which was in a steady development trend overall. From 2016 to 2018, the total number of papers published in the ARE field was 14,030, while from 2019 to 2021, it was 16,989, an increase of 2959 or 21.1% from 2016 to 2018. For annual changes, the number of published papers in 2016–2021 exhibited an upward trend, increasing by 4.06%, 7.69%, 2.05%, 2.81%, and 16.24%, respectively, compared with the previous year, with the highest increase in 2021. Thus, it can be seen that researchers attached great importance to research in the ARE field.

3.1.2. Total Number of Published Papers in Major Countries and Annual Changes

The number of publications by a country represents the output scale and the level of activity of the country’s research in this field. Moreover, the citation frequency of a paper, to a certain extent, reflects the influence and recognition of the paper among peers. Statistics analyses were conducted on the publication and citation status of the top 10 countries in the ARE field from 2016 to 2021, as shown in Figure 2. Therein, the annual publication trends and total number of citations were calculated, as shown in Figure 3.
From Figure 2, it can be seen that there were significant differences in the output scale of papers in the ARE field among countries. China and the United States had a much higher publication volume than the other eight important publishing countries, making them the main forces in the output of papers in the ARE field. According to Figure 3, it can be seen that China ranked first in terms of publication volume (9563 papers) and citation frequency (97,724 times). The publication volume increased year by year, with a significant average annual growth rate of 21.8%. The gap between China and the second-ranked United States gradually increased. In 2016, the publication volume in China was equivalent to that of the United States, while in 2021, the publication volume (2347) was more than twice that of the United States (972), with the total citation frequency also being much higher than other countries. The total number of papers published in the United States was 5521, with the annual number of papers remaining relatively stable, i.e., within 900~1000, in recent years. It can be concluded that research in the ARE field in China has developed rapidly and has had a strong influence in recent years. In addition, Germany and Australia exhibited decent publication volumes and citation frequencies, and their output scales and qualities were relatively balanced. There were also some countries with an uneven development in terms of publication numbers and influence. For example, the number of papers in Brazil increased year by year, but its citation frequency was relatively low. The influence of papers in the UK was relatively high, but the output scale was average. The publication volume and citation frequency of other countries were relatively consistent. On the whole, the number of papers published by major countries in the ARE field has increased in the past six years, reflecting the increasing attention of various countries to this field and its rapid development.
In terms of the per-article citation frequency, the UK exhibited the highest per-article citation frequency at 13, followed by Australia, Germany, and France, all at 12, the United States at 11, and Spain, China, India, and Canada at 10. Judging from the frequency of citations per article, the influence of papers in the ARE field in major countries around the world needs to be promoted.

3.1.3. Analysis of Papers Published by Major Research Institutions

The statistics on the number of published papers and the citation frequency of the top 10 research institutions are shown in Figure 4. The results show that the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has published the most articles in the ARE field since 2016. It is the only institution with more than 1000 articles. The number of articles published was more than four times that of Northwest A&F University, which ranked second. The institutions in the second echelon also included the US Department of Agriculture, with 800~1000 papers published, representing the backbone of research in this field. The Russian Academy of Sciences, China Agricultural University, and the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences had similar outputs and were located in the third echelon. The remaining four institutions issued fewer than 500 publications and were categorized in the fourth echelon.
As seen in the citation frequency analysis, the CAS ranked first in the number of citations (48,290). It can be seen that the CAS was not only an important paper-publishing institution, but it also had high peer recognition and scientific research influence. In addition, compared with the number of publications, Wageningen University and Nanjing Agricultural University, which were top 10 universities, had outstanding quality performance, with an average citation frequency of 19 and 15, respectively. The influence of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Moscow State Monosov University has potential for improvement.

3.1.4. Cooperation Analysis of the Important Institutions

The global collaboration network of the top 20 institutions in the ARE field is shown in Figure 5. The nodes in the figure represent the institution, the size of the node circle represents the number of publications by the institution, and the purple circle represents the intermediary centrality of the nodes. The intermediary centrality reflects the connectivity of nodes in the network. The higher the intermediary centrality, the closer the node is to the center position, and the greater its influence. The thickness of the connecting line between nodes represents the strength of cooperation between institutions. The colors of the circles and connections represent different years: the lighter the color, the more recent the year, and the darker the color, the more distant the year.
It can be seen in Figure 5 that research institutes in China, the United States, Russia, Sweden, the Netherlands, Brazil, and Australia all cooperated closely. Among the domestic institutions, the CAS was at the center of the global cooperation network. The centrality of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and China Agricultural University was also high, and the three institutions formed early domestic cooperative relationships with Nanjing Agricultural University and Beijing Normal University. The early cooperation between Northwest Agriculture and Forestry (A&F) University and the Agricultural Research Institute of the United States Department of Agriculture was frequent and the relationship relatively fixed. Among foreign institutions, the Russian People’s Friendship University and the Russian Academy of Sciences had prominent intermediary centrality and were the “important bridges” connecting scientific research cooperation between Asia and Europe. Among them, the Russian People’s Friendship University formed a new cooperative relationship with Zhejiang University, the CAS, and the Russian Academy of Sciences. The intermediary centrality of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Moscow University was also high, and the two institutions formed an early cooperation network with Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Wageningen University, and Sao Paulo University. In addition, the University of Western Australia and the University of Sydney in Australia performed well and cooperated more with institutions in various countries at different times. Overall, Russia’s scientific research cooperation was extensive and played a very good role in global connectivity. Institutions in China mainly cooperated domestically, and some institutions exhibited strong cooperation with foreign institutions at an early stage.

3.1.5. Distribution of Journals

The information of the top 10 journals in the ARE field is shown in Figure 6. In terms of the number of papers published, “Geoderma” and “Catena” ranked as the top two, with more than 3000 papers published, and “Plant and Soil” ranked third, representing the most important journals in the ARE field.
Different research fields, publication years, and literature types all have an impact on the citation frequency. The CNCI (Category Normalized Citation Impact) indicator can eliminate the citation differences between papers in different disciplines and different publication years. The CNCI value of a paper is obtained by dividing its actual citation number by the expected citation number of the same literature type, the same publication year, and the same subject field. This can be compared with the global average: if CNCI > 1, it means that the academic performance of the paper exceeds the global average; otherwise, it is lower than the global average. From the perspective of the average CNCI value of journal papers, the 4th-ranked journal, “Soil Biology”, had the highest average CNCI value (2.02) of papers published in Biochemistry, and the 8th- and 10th-ranked journals, “Soil Tillage Research” and “Biology and Fertility of Soils”, had the second and third highest number of publications, respectively, in terms of the CNCI value of papers published. Thus, they represent journals with a high influence in this field. Among the top 10 journals, except for the Journal of Soils and Sediments and the Soil Science Society of America Journal, all other journals had papers with CNCI values greater than 1, indicating that the influence of papers was above the global average.

3.2. Analysis of Research Topics

3.2.1. Analysis of Global Research Hotspots

The papers published in the ARE field in 2016–2021 were divided into two periods: 2016–2018 and 2019–2021. With the help of the LDA model, the research topics in the two periods were clustered, and the hotspots in each period were extracted. The keyword clustering analysis for specific papers (Figure 7 and Figure 8, and Table 1) indicates that the research topics in the ARE field from 2016 to 2018 mainly focused on six aspects: the interaction mechanisms of plants, the rhizosphere, and microorganisms (3178 papers), the characteristics and response mechanisms of soil microbial communities under different management measures (1450 papers), the response of soil physical and chemical properties under different management measures (1965 papers), the decomposition and interaction response of organic matter in agro-forestry ecosystems (2572 papers), the mechanisms and predictive evaluation of soil landslide or erosion (3073 papers), and the remediation technology and mechanisms of soil pollution (2332 papers). The above six topics accounted for 22.7%, 10.3%, 14.0%, 18.3%, 21.9%, and 16.6% of the total publications from 2016 to 2018, respectively, with research into the interaction mechanisms of plants, the rhizosphere, and microorganisms, and the mechanisms and predictive evaluation of soil landslide or erosion being the most active.
From 2019 to 2021, the research topics in the ARE field mainly focused on five aspects: the mechanisms and predictive evaluation of soil landslide or erosion (5695 papers), the management and efficient utilization of farmland nutrients (2174 papers), the interaction mechanisms of plants, the rhizosphere, and microorganisms (2609 papers), the agricultural waste utilization technology and mechanisms (2668 papers), and the decomposition and interaction response of organic matter in agro-forestry ecosystems (3843 papers), which accounted for 33.5%, 12.8%, 15.4%, 15.7%, and 22.6% of the total published articles from 2019 to 2021, respectively. Research into the mechanisms and predictive evaluation of soil landslide or erosion, and the decomposition and interaction response of organic matter in agro-forestry ecosystems exhibited the most activity.
By comparing the topics over the two periods, it was found that three topics— namely, the interaction mechanisms of plants, the rhizosphere, and microorganisms, the mechanisms and predictive evaluation of soil landslide or erosion, and the decomposition and interaction response of organic matter in agro-forestry ecosystems—extend through the whole time range from 2016 to 2021. Thus, they have continually been the hot research topics in the ARE field since 2016. In addition, it was found that three topics—namely, the characteristics and response mechanisms of soil microbial community under different management measures, the response of soil physical and chemical properties under different management measures, and soil pollution remediation technology and mechanisms—exhibited more activity in 2016–2018. Thus, they were the hot research topics at that time. However, in comparison, since 2019, attention given to the above three research directions has decreased. The management and efficient utilization of farmland nutrients and agricultural waste utilization technology and mechanisms have become the key research directions since 2019.

3.2.2. Comparison of Research Hotspots between China and the United States

The SCI papers published in the ARE field in China and the United States were extracted from the data set, and the LDA model was used to cluster topics to compare the research layout in this field. The results showed that, since 2016 (Table 2), China and the United States have both focused on four directions with a large number of published papers, forming a clustering effect. The four directions included the decomposition and interaction response of organic matter in agro-forestry ecosystems, the response of soil physical and chemical properties under different management measures, the management and efficient utilization of farmland nutrients, and the mechanisms and predictive evaluation of soil landslide or erosion. The difference is that China published a relatively high number of papers on soil pollution remediation technologies and mechanisms, and the United States exhibited more active research on nutrient availability in the crop rhizosphere, both of which formed obvious clustering effects. Among them, China was more active in two directions: the management and efficient utilization of farmland nutrients, and the mechanisms and predictive evaluation of soil landslide or erosion. Compared with other topics, the United States focused more research on three directions: the mechanisms and predictive evaluation of soil landslide or erosion, nutrient availability in the crop rhizosphere, and the decomposition and interaction response of organic matter in the agro-forestry ecosystem.
Compared with other topics, research into the management and efficient utilization of farmland nutrients and the mechanisms and predictive evaluation of soil landslide or erosion in China was more active. Research into the mechanisms and predictive evaluation of soil landslide or erosion, nutrient availability in the crop rhizosphere, and the decomposition and interaction response of organic matter in agro-forestry ecosystems in the United States was more active.

4. Discussion

In this study, it was concluded that the output of research papers and the direction of research hotspots in the ARE field varied among different countries. The reasons for this are seemingly closely related to the geography and climate, policies, cultural environment, and agricultural development of each country.

4.1. Geography and Climate

Geographical factors, including geographic location, terrain, climate, soil, and water resources, are the basis for ARE studies. The differences in climate conditions between different countries can lead to differences in crop planting structures and yields, which, in turn, affect the allocation of agricultural resources and the efficiency of agricultural production. In addition, differences in terrain and soil resources can directly affect the feasibility and efficiency of agricultural production. The analysis of geographical factors is crucial in the study of ARE. Researchers need to develop suitable agricultural development plans and resource utilization strategies based on the geographical characteristics of different regions. For example, in arid areas, researchers need to focus on research into and the application of water-saving irrigation technologies, while in areas with abundant water resources, they need to pay attention to the rational allocation and efficient use of agricultural water.

4.2. Policy

Policy factors play a guiding and safeguarding role in ARE studies. The agricultural policies of different countries affect the structure, mode, and efficiency of agricultural production, thereby influencing the research direction and content of ARE. For example, some countries introduce policies to support sustainable agricultural development, encourage farmers to adopt environmentally friendly agricultural production methods, such as ecological agriculture and organic agriculture, and to reduce pollution and damage to the environment. These policies encourage ARE research to develop in a more environmentally friendly and sustainable direction. In addition, some countries also introduce agricultural subsidy policies to support farmers in increasing investment and improving agricultural production efficiency; however, this can lead to excessive agricultural resource development and exacerbate environmental problems.

4.3. Cultural Environment

The humanistic environment, including the population distribution, cultural traditions, market demand, and other aspects, also has a significant impact on ARE research. Firstly, the population distribution and density affect the allocation and utilization of agricultural resources. Areas with dense populations require more agricultural products and more refined agricultural management and resource utilization. Therefore, in these regions, researchers need to focus on how to improve agricultural production efficiency, optimize resource allocation, and other issues. Secondly, cultural traditions can influence farmers’ attitudes toward agricultural production methods and technological choices. In some regions, traditional agricultural culture still dominates, and farmers may be more inclined to adopt traditional agricultural production methods and technologies. In contrast, in other areas, farmers are more open and accepting of new agricultural production methods and technologies.

4.4. Agricultural Development Level

The level of agricultural development is an important factor affecting ARE research. With the continuous advancements in agricultural production technology and agricultural production method innovation, ARE research also faces new challenges and opportunities. On the one hand, advances in agricultural production technology can improve agricultural production efficiency, reduce production costs, and improve the quality of agricultural products. However, at the same time, they may also exacerbate environmental problems and resource waste. Therefore, researchers need to pay attention to the environmental impact and resource utilization efficiency of agricultural production technology, and propose practical, scientific suggestions and measures. On the other hand, with the continuous innovation of agricultural production methods and the extension of the agricultural industry chain, research into agricultural resources and the environment needs to pay attention to a novel set of issues and challenges.

5. Conclusions and Prospects

5.1. Conclusions

(1) Since 2016, there have been 31,559 papers published in the ARE field, exhibiting a steady development trend overall. The journals Geoderma, Catena, and Plant and Soil were the top three in terms of published papers. China and the United States were the main forces in terms of paper output in this field. The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Northwest A&F University, and the US Department of Agriculture ranked as the top three in terms of the number of publications. Research institutes in China, the United States, Russia, Sweden, the Netherlands, Brazil, and Australia all exhibited close cooperative relationships, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences was at the center of the global cooperation network of important research institutes.
(2) The clustering results of text topics based on the LDA model showed that three topics—namely, the interaction mechanisms of plants, the rhizosphere, and microorganisms, the mechanisms and predictive evaluation of soil landslide or erosion, and the decomposition and interaction response of organic matter in agro-forestry ecosystems—have been the hot fields in ARE since 2016. The management and efficient utilization of farmland nutrients, and agricultural waste utilization have become the key research directions since 2019.
(3) Since 2016, the research layout of China and the United States in this field focused on four aspects: the decomposition and interaction response of organic matter in agro-forestry ecosystems, the response of soil physical and chemical properties under different management measures, the management and efficient utilization of farmland nutrients, and the mechanisms and predictive evaluation of soil landslide or erosion. The main difference is that China carried out a lot of research on soil pollution, environmental stress, and microbial interaction mechanisms, while the United States was more active in covering the nutrient availability in the crop rhizosphere.

5.2. Prospects

Based on the development trend and research layout in the global ARE field, it is proposed that China continue to increase policy and research funding support, pay equal attention to basic research and applied research, and continue to strengthen domestic and international cooperation in the future.
(1) Continue to increase policy and financial support for ARE research. Agricultural resources and the environment are the foundation of agricultural production and an important component of agricultural ecology. They directly affect the output and quality of agricultural products, national food security, and ecological environment protection, and are important for human survival and development. The government and R&D funding support management departments should strengthen policy guidance, plan forward-looking scientific future research directions, formulate scientific funding budgets and key funding directions based on the current global research layout and development trends, and ensure the stability, effectiveness, and sustainability of financial support. In addition, they should guide social forces to invest, attract social funding sources, actively expand diversified funding sources, and strengthen research funding support for agricultural resources and the environment.
(2) Combine basic research with applied research, consolidate theoretical research, strengthen applied research, and promote the transformation of achievements. The ARE is a comprehensive discipline that integrates basic research and applied research. Basic research is the foundation and forerunner of scientific and technological innovation, and its transformation and application is vital in the development of scientific research. The combination of basic and applied research means basic research results can be applied to practical production and actual life, thus promoting technological progress and social development. The government should strengthen its support for this transformation by increasing cooperation among production, education, and research teams. This can be achieved by establishing science and technology parks and incubators and helping research achievements reach the market, thus resulting in an economic and social win–win situation and enhancing the overall competitiveness of China in the ARE field.
(3) Strengthen domestic alliances and international cooperation and enhance the international status of domestic research subjects. Agricultural resources and the environment are hot topics of global concern. Thus, domestic research institutions, universities, enterprises, and different national institutions in this field should be encouraged to establish close cooperation mechanisms, share research resources, learn from international advanced research experiences and methods, improve research and efficiency, promote sci-tech innovation, and jointly address global ARE issues. In addition, domestic researchers should strengthen exchanges and cooperation between research subjects in China and their international peers by participating in international conferences, organizing international seminars, and conducting international cooperative projects, thereby enhancing the international visibility and influence of research subjects in China.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, L.C. and A.W.; methodology, L.C., S.Q., H.Z., and J.Z.; validation, L.C., S.Q., and Q.J.; formal analysis, L.C. and S.Q.; investigation, L.C. and S.Q.; data curation, L.C., S.Q., and H.Z.; writing—original draft preparation, L.C. and A.W.; writing—review and editing, S.Q, J.Z., and A.W.; supervision, A.W. and J.Z.; project administration, L.C. and J.Z. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research was funded by the National Key R&D Program, grant number 2023YFD2300404, and Science and Technology Innovation Project in Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, grant numbers KJCX20230208 and KJCX20240311. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Institutional Review Board Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Not applicable.

Data Availability Statement

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors on request.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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Figure 1. Annual publication trends in the field of agricultural resources and environment from 2016 to 2021.
Figure 1. Annual publication trends in the field of agricultural resources and environment from 2016 to 2021.
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Figure 2. Total publications of the top 10 countries in the field of agricultural resources and environment from 2016 to 2021.
Figure 2. Total publications of the top 10 countries in the field of agricultural resources and environment from 2016 to 2021.
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Figure 3. Annual publication trends and total citation frequency of the top 10 countries in the field of agricultural resources and environment.
Figure 3. Annual publication trends and total citation frequency of the top 10 countries in the field of agricultural resources and environment.
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Figure 4. Total publications and citation frequency of top 10 institutions in the field of agricultural resources and environment.
Figure 4. Total publications and citation frequency of top 10 institutions in the field of agricultural resources and environment.
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Figure 5. Collaboration network of important research institutions in the field of agricultural resources and environment.
Figure 5. Collaboration network of important research institutions in the field of agricultural resources and environment.
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Figure 6. Distribution of publication volume and CNCI values of major journals in the field of agricultural resources and environment.
Figure 6. Distribution of publication volume and CNCI values of major journals in the field of agricultural resources and environment.
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Figure 7. Hot research topics in the field of agricultural resources and environment from 2016 to 2018. The values located at the top of the figures represent the frequency of the theme word. Note: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 refer to the clustering themes; Chuang et al. (2012) and Sievert and Shirley (2014) are the references [29,30].
Figure 7. Hot research topics in the field of agricultural resources and environment from 2016 to 2018. The values located at the top of the figures represent the frequency of the theme word. Note: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 refer to the clustering themes; Chuang et al. (2012) and Sievert and Shirley (2014) are the references [29,30].
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Figure 8. Hot research topics in the field of agricultural resources and environment from 2019 to 2021. The values located at the top of the figures represent the frequency of the theme word. Note: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 refer to the clustering themes; Chuang et al. (2012) and Sievert and Shirley (2014) are the references [29,30].
Figure 8. Hot research topics in the field of agricultural resources and environment from 2019 to 2021. The values located at the top of the figures represent the frequency of the theme word. Note: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 refer to the clustering themes; Chuang et al. (2012) and Sievert and Shirley (2014) are the references [29,30].
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Table 1. Hot research topics in the field of agricultural resources and environment from 2016 to 2018 and 2019 to 2021.
Table 1. Hot research topics in the field of agricultural resources and environment from 2016 to 2018 and 2019 to 2021.
YearNumberTopic NameTopic Words
2016–20181Interaction mechanisms of plants, the rhizosphere, and microorganismsstress; rhizosphere; drought; uptake; bacteria; maize; fungal; shoot; phosphorus; fungi; fertilization; inoculation; tolerance; seedling; salinity; nematode; cultivar; grown; efficiency; stage
2Characteristics and response mechanisms of soil microbial communities under different management measuresdiversity; grain; climate; fertilization; paddy; rainfall; environmental; china; trait; richness; precipitation; sequence; farmer; splash; biodiversity; grassland; intensity; environment; productivity; crust
3Response of soil physical and chemical properties under different management measureshorizon; physical; density; profile; irrigation; sandy; grazing; humus; stock; conductivity; hydraulic; stability; parameter; maize; texture; rotation; retention; weather; material; transport
4Decomposition and interaction response of organic matter in agro-forestry ecosystemsdecomposition; compost; amendment; respiration; mineralization; straw; enzyme; incubation; availability; manure; earthworm; release; amend; labile; substrate; phosphorus; cycling; dynamic; degradation; carbon
5Mechanisms and predictive evaluation of soil landslide or erosionvegetation; slope; china; rainfall; river; runoff; moisture; catchment; variation; plateau; loess; climate; variability; natural; measurement; mulch; landscape; grassland; stock; restoration
6Remediation technology and mechanisms of soil pollutionmetal; prediction; heavy; solution; adsorption; predict; sorption; element; source; contaminate; spectroscopy; regression; environmental; capacity; phosphorus; extraction; contamination; phosphate; extract; accumulation
2019–20211Mechanisms and predictive evaluation of soil landslide or erosionslope; scale; rainfall; estimate; index; runoff; density; moisture; prediction; parameter; physical; variation; predict; river; loess; characteristic; irrigation; variability; conservation; measurement
2The management and efficient utilization of farmland nutrientsmineral; material; horizon; grain; uptake; phosphate; weather; formation; capacity; compost; sorption; element; potassium; profile; urban; adsorption; magnetic; availability; sandy; foliar
3Interaction mechanisms of plants, the rhizosphere, and microorganismsrhizosphere; fungal; fungi; bacteria; mycorrhizal; inoculation; interaction; plantation; environmental; shrub; uptake; enzyme; source; ecological; arbuscular; sequence; maize; restoration; availability; strain
4Technology and mechanisms of agricultural waste utilizationstraw; residue; manure; rotation; nitrification; maize; earthworm; paddy; amendment; mulch; nematode; leach; nitrate; soybean; availability; denitrification; conduct; metal; efficiency; environmental
5Decomposition and interaction response of organic matter in agro-forestry ecosystemsdecomposition; stress; grassland; mineralization; enzyme; accumulation; respiration; grazing; delta; affected; metal; mechanism; salinity; cycling; drought; compound; availability; fungal; release; labile
Table 2. Research hotspots in the field of agricultural resources and environment in China and the United States.
Table 2. Research hotspots in the field of agricultural resources and environment in China and the United States.
NumberTopic NameChina—Number of Publications, ProportionUnited States—Number of Publications, Proportion
1The decomposition and interaction response of organic matter in agro-forestry ecosystems1417, 14.8%1142, 20.7%
2The response of soil physical and chemical properties under different management measures1280, 13.4% 820, 14.9%
3The management and efficient utilization of farmland nutrients2599, 27.2% 993, 18.0%
4The mechanisms and predictive evaluation of soil landslide or erosion2495, 26.1%1434, 26.0%
5Remediation technology and the mechanisms of soil pollution 1770, 18.5%No clustering formed
6Nutrient availability in the crop rhizosphere No clustering formed1105, 20.0%
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Chuan, L.; Qi, S.; Zhang, H.; Jia, Q.; Wang, A.; Zhao, J. International Development Trends in the Field of Agricultural Resources and the Environment. Sustainability 2024, 16, 6516. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16156516

AMA Style

Chuan L, Qi S, Zhang H, Jia Q, Wang A, Zhao J. International Development Trends in the Field of Agricultural Resources and the Environment. Sustainability. 2024; 16(15):6516. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16156516

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Chuan, Limin, Shijie Qi, Hui Zhang, Qian Jia, Ailing Wang, and Jingjuan Zhao. 2024. "International Development Trends in the Field of Agricultural Resources and the Environment" Sustainability 16, no. 15: 6516. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16156516

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