The research of water use in Spain

This study details the contribution of Spanish institutions to the specialised literature on water use during the period 1957-2014; the search yielded 42,655 documents. It relies on Elsevier's Scopus database and bibliographic analysis techniques. The analysis includes all of the materials reported by Scopus (e.g., journal articles or conference proceedings). Different publication aspects have been analysed, such as type, language, subcategories, and journal type as well as the frequency of keyword appearance. The contributions are categorised geographically and by institution. The results indicate that the Spanish contribution is substantial in light of the obtained measurements. The majority of the keywords that occupy the first positions are related to water quality (Wastewater, Water Analysis, Pesticides, Heavy Metals, Adsorption, Water Quality and Wastewater Treatment). Only one keyword is related to irrigation or agriculture (Water Stress), and one is related to the environment (Drought). The institutions that publish the most are those located in the communities of Madrid, Catalonia and Andalusia, these publications represent nearly 75% of all national publications. H-index and Impact Factor have been adapted for the obtained water publications analysed. At the international level more than the half of all of the publications involve international collaboration; so the international collaborations occurred with a high number of countries (150), and with 33 countries, there were more than 100 publications. Spain largely collaborates with the USA, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. The categories that exhibit relatively more activity within the water use field are Environmental Science, Chemistry, and Agricultural and Biological Science. The data indicate that water use research in Spain is focused on mid-level international collaboration. Public resources are more focused on the study of water quality than the study of irrigation and its use in agriculture. This outcome contrasts clearly with the fact that Spain's agricultural sector consumes most of all available water resources. This study provides an opportunity for researchers on water use to see either where new trends might come from and which are the main topics of interest in scientific community. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.