Progress and future research trends on Santalum album: A bibliometric and science mapping approach

Sandalwood (Santalum album) is woven into the culture and traditions of India for last 3000 years. However, India's dominance on the international sandalwood trade is waning. Other countries, specifically Australia are emerging as a big-mammoth player in sandalwood trade. Still, there is a high demand-supply gap for Indian Sandalwood. This offers opportunities for the countries to dominate the trade by upscaling sandalwood cultivation among farmers and various stakeholders. Considering the extent of research activity as a proxy to a country's attitude and approach towards the Santalum album, we used the theoretical framework of bibliometric studies to understand the current status of Indian sandalwood research globally. After 92 years of research (1928-2020), 374 scientific publications were listed in the Web of Science database for a single keyword search "Santalum album". Analysis of this metadata using the bibliometrix R-package revealed an annual growth of 5.25 per cent in scientific publications over the years. Lokta's law was found to be valid for Indian sandalwood research, indicating a possibility for increased research in the upcoming years which perfectly correlate with the increase in sandalwood prices. The analysis revealed a decadal shift in prominent researching countries. India dominated in terms of the number of scientific publications for the last two decades, followed by Australia during the decade I (2000-2010). However, China surpassed Australia in the current decade (2011-2020) in terms of research output. Further, more productive researchers were from China and Australia. The increased interest of Chinese researchers can have an impact on sandalwood market in the near possible future. SciMAT science mapping tool was used to map prominent researched areas over the 92 years and to uncover the future researchable areas. The results will contribute critically to ascertaining relevant research aspects while accounting the significant gaps like field planting geometry, tree: host ratio, irrigation and nutrition management regime and yield estimation. So that complete scientific information will encourage the private cultivation and can also promote Indian sandalwood cultivation at the community level.