Overview of scientific productivity in the field of fungal stress research

The study of fungal stress (FS) responses contributes to a deeper understanding of this important group of organisms. This bibliometric study explores what research has been conducted on how agricultural, environmental, and industrial important fungi respond to changes or stress in their environment. The Web of Science was employed to find publications related to FS tolerance, and after sorting, 3126 articles were analyzed. The major fungus/fungi studied in each article were noted and sorted into categories of Environmental, Industrial, or Agricultural FS. The publications were then assigned into these categories or General, for articles covering many fungi. Agricultural Fungi were further divided into Plant-pathogenic, Insect-pathogenic, Antagonist, Postharvest decay, and Nematode-trapping niches. Seventy years of research into FS were found, with the majority of publications after 1990, peaking in 2022. Almost half of the FS publications were about Agriculture, and plant pathogens were the most common niche studied. The most studied fungi were Beauveria bassiana, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and Aspergillus nidulans. Studies on FS were conducted in 87 countries by at least 9766 researchers. Most of the top institutions and researchers in FS publications are Chinese.