Trends in global research in seed dispersal: A bibliometric analysis

In this study, data were sampled from the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-E) and Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) databases of the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC). With the help of CiteSpace visualization software, a systematic analysis was carried out on 1,939 publications from various countries in the field of seed dispersal. The activity index (AI) and attractive index (AAI) were used to evaluate the research effort and academic impact of different countries/territories in this field, and the global research progress and dynamic changes in research on seed dispersal were discussed. The results showed that (1) the number of publications on seed dispersal has increased rapidly, and research on seed dispersal is in a growth stage and has great potential. Ecology was the journal with the highest impact in this field, and ecology was the most popular subject category among the studies analysed. (2) The most productive authors in the field of seed dispersal are from Spain, and the most productive institution is in the USA. The research effort and academic impact of the USA were higher than the global average level in most years; the research effort and academic impact of Brazil, China and Japan were lower than the global average level in most years, but in recent years, the academic impact of these countries has been continuously increasing. (3) Keyword burst analysis showed that the new research hotspots or frontiers were mainly concentrated on seed conservation and the spatial patterns of seed dispersal. In-depth analysis of seed dispersal research indicated that the increasing development of mathematical models related to seed dispersal creates an opportunity to study the processes of seed dispersal and their consequences.