GLOBAL RESEARCH TREND IN WATER QUALITY: A BIBLIOMETRIC STUDY
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35631/IJIREV.825006Keywords:
Bibliometric Analysis, Research trends, Science Mapping, Water QualityAbstract
Water quality has become a critical universal concern due to increasing environmental pressures from industrial activities, urbanisation, agricultural practices and anthropogenic activities. As research in this field continues to expand, understanding the quantitative data- overview and emerging trends is essential. This bibliometric study presents a comprehensive analysis of scientific publications on water quality indexed in the Web of Science (WOS) database from 2000 to 2025. Bibliometric analysis was applied to explore the publication performance, language of document, document types, authorship, highly cited publication and well-known source titles. The science mapping on co-authorship between countries and keyword co-occurrence was conducted using VOSviewer, which helps to determine the influential country, major research theme and emerging topics. The result highlights a steady increase in water quality research over 25 years, which is due to the increasing concern about water quality, pollution and human health. Research articles constitute 82% of the document type, highlighting active scientific exploration and data production. The top research area in water quality is environmental science, with the Science of the Total Environment Journal demonstrating strong citation influence, indicating higher scholarly impact. Keyword analysis shows growth towards emerging trends such as advanced removal technologies, effective pollution detection, machine learning and data-driven approaches for water quality management. This bibliometric study provides a comprehensive overview of this field by examining its evolution, mapping the research structure, analysing publication trends, and identifying future research directions. It offers updated insights into collaboration networks and emerging data-driven approaches in the field. The findings of this study provide valuable insights for policymakers in supporting global initiatives such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6), which aims to ensure clean water and sanitation for all.
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