A systematic review of clay shale research development for slope construction

The issue of stability controlling cutting slopes is particularly important in clay-shale slopes, a typical expanding sedimentary layer with poor engineering geological conditions and mechanical characteristics. Therefore, research on the causes of failure and remedies for clay-shale cutting slopes is required to serve as an overview for handling and preserving clay-shale slopes in identical conditions. However, the trusted information about the need for further related clay shale research and clay shale in slope stability has yet to be specifically presented. This review study summarizes the published research for clay shale beginning in 1980, presents a bibliometric analysis to examine the published research based on year and country, and provides various study trends in cluster diagram using the VOSviewer program. The analysis also summarized some key goals, effective methodology, and significant findings from the most recent studies to extract information from them that would benefit future research. In conclusion, the results show the need for developing research to fill the knowledge gap regarding clay shale, landslide, and clay mineralogy. In addition, the clay shale slope analysis has revealed the need for additional research into dynamic force and its deformation.