Use of the process-based models in forest research: a bibliometric review

Abstract

Background: process-based modeling is made to simulate the interactions of the soil-plant-atmosphere system providing information and estimates for forest management and services. Through bibliometric evaluation we identify the quantitative state of the art on the use of Process-Based Models (PBMs) applied in forestry studies, contextualizing research fronts, and analyzing the main topics and emerging themes. Data from the Web of Science and Scopus were used for the bibliometric survey of 533 scientific records. Results: we verified that (i) the number of publications related to the PBMs was boosted in the year 2000, and is growing; (ii) Forest Ecology and Management (74 publications) is the journal that most publishes on the subject; (iii) Annikki Mäkelä is the most productive researcher (20 publications) and most cited (h-index: 12); (iv) The USA (131 records) is the country with the highest number of research; (v) there are eight collaborative networks between the authors, three workings together, and five producing in isolation; (vi) the keywords are grouped into five clusters: (a) the effect of climate change on forests; (b) carbon studies; (c) physiology of trees; (d) silvicultural practices and; (e) analysis of model uncertainties. The separation of themes showed that the new search hotspots are the PBMs using of remote detection tools. Conclusion: the results presented can be a fundamental theoretical tool for understanding the trends and development perspectives of this research line in future studies.