Title: A bibliometric analysis of research on the energy-water nexus from 1963 to 2016 based on SCI-E/SSCI databases

Authors: Jing-Li Fan; Qin-Ying Song; Xian Zhang; Kun Zhang

Addresses: School of Resources & Safety Engineering, China University of Mining & Technology, Beijing (CUMTB), 100083, China; State Key Laboratory of Coal Resources and Safe Mining, China University of Mining and Technology, Ding 11, Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100083, China ' School of Resources & Safety Engineering, China University of Mining & Technology, Beijing (CUMTB), 100083, China ' The Administrative Centre for China's Agenda 21 (ACCA21), Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), Beijing 100038, China ' Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China

Abstract: Using the bibliometric method, this paper characterises literature regarding the energy-water nexus from 1963 to 2016 based on the Web of Science. The results indicate that the USA, the People's Republic of China and Canada were predominant in this field. The Chinese Academy of Sciences was the highest-yield research institute; the Journal of Power Sources was the most productive journal; and cooperation among prolific authors centred mainly on 2 or 3 people. Using co-keyword analysis, the current key research areas in this field are as follows: water management, life cycle assessment, PEM fuel cell, desalination and renewable energy, energy efficiency, and climate change. The most salient finding is that there is significantly more research from the micro-level perspective than the macro-level perspective, which means that to fully understand relationships relevant to water and energy issues, more research is needed.

Keywords: energy-water nexus; bibliometric analysis; Web of Science; social network analysis; co-keyword analysis.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGEI.2018.097141

International Journal of Global Energy Issues, 2018 Vol.41 No.5/6, pp.248 - 271

Received: 28 Sep 2017
Accepted: 04 Apr 2018

Published online: 02 Jan 2019 *

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