Trends in groundwater research development in the South and Southeast Asian Countries: a 50-year bibliometric analysis (1970-2020)

Groundwater plays a pivotal role in sustaining the water needs of the population of South and Southeast Asia. However, long-term over-exploitation and unsustainable practices have caused groundwater depletion, and deterioration in many parts of the region, further impacting human health and ecosystem services. Thus, understanding the current groundwater research activities and identifying the issues is crucial for improving future studies. This study conducted a bibliometric analysis to evaluate the groundwater-related literature available for South and Southeast Asia from the Scopus database for the last 50 years (1970-2020). Of the total, this study identified 7,895 documents, representing 13% of the total global research productivity. India was the most productive country, followed by Pakistan and Malaysia. National Geophysical Research Institute, Anna University and Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur were the top three institutions with the highest number of groundwater-related publications. In international research collaboration, the United States and Japan were the two most collaborated countries with the South and Southeast Asian countries. Environmental Science, Earth and Planetary Sciences and Agricultural and Biological Sciences were the top three disciplines. The Environmental Earth Sciences journal published the highest number of groundwater-related publications in the study period. Research topic trends were observed through keyword analysis revealing increased outputs for groundwater quality, availability and suitability, recharge, and management. Our results provide valuable insights on groundwater issues that have received the most attention in South and Southeast Asia and identify the potential research topics and opportunities for researchers working in the groundwater domain.