Bibliometric analysis of research trends on the parasitic root weeds of the Orobanche spp. based on Web of Science and CNKI

This study aimed to gain a deeper understanding of the state of the art in research on the global parasitic weeds of the Orobanche spp. and provide reference data for researchers in this field. Retrieved from the core collection database Web of Science and the CNKI database, the literature related to root parasitic weeds published from 1999 to 2018 was used to conduct bibliometric analysis with VOSviewer and Excel focusing on publication time, country, scientific research institution, research directions, journal, and authors. During the last two decades, the global publication volume has increased significantly. Spain, Japan, and the Netherlands exerted a higher overall influence in this field, with a significantly higher total amount of published articles. In particular, the CSIC (Consejo Superior deInvestigaciones Científicas) in Spain, the Utsunomiya University in Japan, the Wageningen University in the Netherlands, and the Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University in China are four institutions that have a strong research record on parasitic weeds. Analysis of research directions showed that the global literature on root parasitic weeds is focused on botany, agronomy, and phytochemistry. In addition, journals like "Weed Research" and "Crop Protection" included most of the publications related to this topic. The global spread of Orobanche spp. infestation and its infection mechanism and control measures have become a concerning, hot topic, even though plant parasitic weed research has a long history. In recent years, domestic and foreign research on parasitic weeds of the Orobanche spp. has been constantly ongoing and the number of relevant publications collected by the Science Citation Index (SCI) has also increased year by year. In order to better understand the developmental history of this field and the current research status, in this study, based on the Web of Science core collection database and the CNKI database, we carried out a quantitative analysis of the literature on parasitic weeds of the Orobanche spp. during the 20 years from 1999 to 2018, thereby providing reference data for researchers engaged in parasitic weed research and knowledge on international developments.