Global research trends of geographical information system from 1961 to 2010: a bibliometric analysis

A bibliometric analysis of published geographical information system (GIS) research was performed to evaluate current research trends, quantitatively and qualitatively, over the period 1961-2010, based on SCIE & SSCI databases. Articles referring to GIS were concentrated on the analysis of scientific outputs, distribution of subject categories, source journals, international collaboration, geographic distribution of authors, temporal trends in keywords usage, and the relationship between GIS articles and computer numbers. The results showed that the growth of scientific outputs has exploded since 1991, with an increasing collaboration index, references, and citations. Environmental sciences, multidisciplinary geosciences, ecology, physical geography, water resources, geography, and remote sensing were most frequently used subject categories, and IJGIS was the most productive journal in this field. The United States produced the most independent and collaborative articles, took a central position in the collaboration network, and had the greatest number of most prolific institutions. North America, Western Europe, and East Asia had major clusters of authors. A keywords analysis demonstrated that the integration of GIS and RS was a key development trend. Spatial analysis, model, land use, map, and landscape were research hotspots. Generally, GIS research was significantly correlated with the development of personal computers, and there was a statistically significant quadratic polynomial growth in GIS-related articles. This study will help readers to understand global trends in GIS research during the past 50 years.