A bibliometric analysis of ecosystem services evaluation from 1997 to 2016.

Ecosystems play critically important roles in supporting human society, while human activities seriously disturb their initial balance. Lots of researches on ecosystem services are conducted due to the increasing concern on ecological security worldwide. In order to provide valuable insights for understanding the primary performance of ecosystem services-related studies, a qualitative and quantitative analysis by using a bibliometric tool is performed in this study. Journal impact factor, CiteScore, and h-index are used for identifying influential journals, while h-index is used for recognizing productive countries/territories and institutions. Social network analysis of countries/territories and institutions is visualized, respectively, so that relationships among them can be uncovered. Citation analysis of publications and co-occurrence analysis of high-frequency keywords are also performed to explore hotspots and popular methods in this field. This study uncovers a holistic picture on the primary performance of ecosystem services-related literatures published from 1997 to 2016, including journals, countries/territories, and institutions. Results find that forest, agriculture, and wetland ecosystems attract lots of attention. Finally, major methods used for ecosystem services evaluation are identified and discussed. Research outcomes will provide valuable insights to stakeholders interested in ecosystem services.