Studying the landscape of ecosystem services valuation research: a bibliometric approach

The present study attempts a bibliometric analysis of global research priorities on ecosystem services (ES) valuation between 1998 and 2023. The analysis is conducted based on 1610 research articles identified using the Scopus database, which is further examined using VOSviewer. The study identifies influential articles, authors, major research themes, countries and institutions working on ES valuation. The growing number of publications and citations indicate that the status of ES research has grown over time. Citation analysis of publications and co-occurrence analysis of prominent keywords are also performed to investigate research hotspots and widely used techniques. The ES research focuses on land-use change, urban planning, decision-making, environmental protection and sustainable development through valuing different ecosystems. Our findings can be a valuable reference for different stakeholders and provide insights for future research.