Emerging Frontiers in Nanotechnology for Salinity Stress Management: A Global Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

The use of nanotechnology to manage salinity stress has recently become a prominent focus in agricultural and environmental research, garnering substantial global attention. Soil Salinity encompasses three fundamental principles: minimizing salt accumulation, enhancing soil coverage, and rotating with salt-tolerant crops. This field has experienced a surge in research activity, with the number of peer-reviewed publications on nanotechnology and salinity stress increasing exponentially. This investigation aims to critically analyze all peer-reviewed documents on nanotechnology and salinity stress published between 2021 and 2024, as indexed in the Dimensions core database. The search yielded 500 papers processed using an R-based bibliometric package to examine annual scientific production trends, sources, authors, documents, citations, keyword analysis, and co-occurrence networking using VOSviewer. Our results indicate a significant expansion in conservation agriculture research from 2021 to 2024. Notably, the top 10 core source journals make the most substantial contributions to the field, while 2570 researchers have authored or co-authored at least one document on salinity stress and nanotechnology. The prominence of nanoparticle-based research for managing saline soil in countries such as China, India, Egypt, Pakistan, and Iran highlights the critical nature of this issue in these regions. Nevertheless, this field of study has attracted global attention. The overall conclusion of this study provides a bibliometric analysis and nanotechnological basis for salinity stress management.