Retrospective research on the interactions between land-cover change and global warming using bibliometrics during 1991–2018

Research understanding, evaluation and projecting the interrelationships between land-use, land-cover change and global warming (LUCC-W) plays a significant role in alleviating global climate change and promoting global sustainable development. However, there has not been a comprehensive review of the LUCC-W development process, especially from a bibliometrics perspective. To provide a wider insight into LUCC-W research development, using the bibliometrics method, we identified 2461 relevant LUCC-W documents over the past 30 years from the Web of Science. By summarizing and analyzing these documents, we found: (1) three main academic groups focused on the biophysical and biochemical mechanisms, model establishment and improvement, and scenarios simulation and analysis, from the author's collaboration network; (2) 11 clustering foci, and key directions from momentous literature, by retrieving categories, foci, and references at three scales; (3) the process of LUCC-W research could be divided into four stages, Budding stage (1991–2000), Development stage (2000–2007), Lull stage (2007–2014) and Maturation stage (2014), by linear fitting changes in the number of emerging keywords; and (4) suggestions for future LUCC-W research in process, methodology, and mitigation aspects.