Are the issues involving acephate already resolved? A scientometric review

Acephate is a pesticide classified as moderately toxic, and its metabolite methamidophos is highly toxic for mammals and birds; even so, it is one of the most used insecticides in pest control for agricultural and domestic use. Acephate toxicity affects both target and non-target organisms and causes serious damage to the environment. There are several studies on different perspectives of acephate, such as monitoring, toxicity, and modeling. In this sense, this research aims to identify the structure of intellectual production on acephate and analyze the gaps and trends of scientific production on acephate through a scientometric analysis. The data was obtained from the Web of Science database, and after the refinement, 1.085 documents were used. A temporal pattern of the main research objectives is displayed. Most selected studies evaluated acephate efficiency, followed by toxicity and residue detection methods. The USA, China, India, Brazil, and Japan had the highest number of publications on acephate. The keywords most utilized were pesticides, toxicity, insecticide resistance, and residue. Research involving acephate requires greater attention from areas such as ecotoxicology, biochemistry, genetics, and biotechnology. There needed to be more discussions on chronic toxicity, genotoxicity, and cytotoxicity. Moreover, few studies about metabolic and biochemical pathways and genes related to acephate action and biodegradation were scarce.

Automated summary

Acephate, a moderately toxic pesticide, is widely used for pest control in agriculture and domestic settings despite being highly toxic to mammals and birds through its metabolite methamidophos. This research aimed to analyze the intellectual production and identify the gaps and trends in scientific research on acephate through a scientometric analysis. Results showed that the majority of studies focused on acephate's efficiency, followed by toxicity and residue detection methods. The USA, China, India, Brazil, and Japan published the most literature on acephate. Keywords such as pesticides, toxicity, insecticide resistance, and residue were commonly used. However, there is a need for more research on chronic toxicity, genotoxicity, cytotoxicity, metabolic and biochemical pathways, and genes related to acephate action and biodegradation.