A review of published wetland research, 1991-2008: Ecological engineering and ecosystem restoration

An effective bibliometric analysis based on the Science Citation Index (SCI) published by the Institute of Scientific Information (ISI) was carried out to identify wetland research between 1991 and 2008. The objective was to conduct a quantitative and qualitative analysis for global trends of wetland-related research. The characteristics related to publications were analyzed. The results showed the significant wetland research issues in the SCI database. From 1991 to 2008, the annual number of journal articles published and the number of articles cited to wetland research increased more than sixfold and ninefold respectively. The USA produced the most single-country articles and international collaborative articles, followed by Canada and UK. The results also showed the significant wetland research issues in SCI database. The most frequently used words were: water (or water quality), which ranked 3rd, 7th, and 3rd according to the word in article title, author keyword, and keyword plus analysis, respectively. Constructed wetland biodiversity became more active in wetland research. The keywords constructed wetland and constructed wetlands ranked 58th and 12th in 1991-1996, while they ranked 5th and 4th in 2003-2008; the author keyword biodiversity ranked 45th in 1991-1996, while it ranked 23rd in 1997-2002, and 14th in 2003-2008; and keyword plus diversity ranked 93rd in 1991-1996, while it ranked 20th in 1997-2002, and 17th in 2003-2008. Moreover, it was proved that article title, author keyword, and keyword plus analysis methods were effective approaches for mapping wetland research. Popular wetland research issues and wetland research changes were also identified by statistical analysis. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.