Global Perspectives on Environmental Microbiome Research: Current Status and Future Directions

Abstract

The environmental microbiome plays an important role in various ecosystems around the world, influencing nutrient cycling, disease dynamics and ecosystem stability. This bibliometric analysis provides a comprehensive overview of the current state and future directions of environmental microbiome research from a global perspective from 2009–2024. Through systematic examination of Scopus publications, 2154 documents were found. The results show a significant increase in the number of publications since 2017 and a peak in 2024. The most cited document was "The hidden world within plants: Ecological and evolutionary considerations for defining functioning of microbial endophytes" with 1887 citations and “Structure and function of the global ocean microbiome” with 1843 citations. The most productive countries in environmental microbiome research are the United States (n = 748), China (n = 533), India (n = 308), Germany (n = 172) and the United Kingdom (n = 157). Microbiome, microbial community, microfolora, microbiota, microbiology, bacteria, and bacterium are the most popular topics that will continue to develop in the future. Although the United States has published the highest total number of papers, more recent studies have predominantly been published from China, indicating shift in the centre of study from the United States to China. Insights gained from this analysis contribute to a deeper understanding of the environmental microbiome research landscape, guiding future research priorities and collaborations in the field.