sustainability Review History and Trends in Ecological Stoichiometry Research from 1992 to 2019: A Scientometric Analysis Hailiang Li 1,* , M. James C. Crabbe 2,3,4 and Haikui Chen 5 1 College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou 730070, China 2 Wolfson College, Oxford University, Oxford OX2 6UD, UK;
[email protected] 3 Institute of Biomedical and Environmental Science & Technology, University of Bedfordshire, Luton LU1 3JU, UK 4 School of Life Sciences, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China 5 School of Biological Science and Engineering, North Minzu University, Yinchuan 750021, China;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected] Received: 26 September 2020; Accepted: 23 October 2020; Published: 27 October 2020 Abstract: Ecological stoichiometry (ES), as an ecological theory, provides a framework for studying various ecological processes, and it has been applied successfully in fields ranging from nutrient dynamics to biogeochemical cycling. Through the application of ES theory, researchers are beginning to understand many diverse ecological topics. The aim of this paper was to identify the main characteristics of ES, especially to clarify the evolution, and potential trends of this field for future ecological studies. We used CiteSpace software to conduct a bibliometric review of ES research publications from 1992 to 2019 extracted from the Web of Science. The results showed that the United States has been a major contributor to this field; approximately half of the top 15 academic institutions contributing to ES research were in the United States. Although the largest number of publications on ES were from China, the impact of these academic papers has thus far been less than that of the papers from other countries.