Drainage in irrigated agriculture: Bibliometric analysis for the period of 2017–2021

Drainage is important in controlling the level of groundwater water in improving the melioration of irrigated lands in agriculture. The right choice of drainage parameters during design will allow for minimization of salt fluxes between the crop root zone and groundwater, and between drained lands and receiving water bodies. In this study, bibliometric analysis was used to identify important trends, focus areas, and regions in international irrigation and drainage research from 2017 to 2021. The data used in this analysis were taken from the online version of the Scopus database and 1492 publications met the selection criteria. Bibliometric analysis showed that all articles were published in English, with the highest publication numbers coming from the China, USA, India, Egypt, Iran, Spain and Brazil. It was revealed that 47 publications were from Central Asian countries on irrigation and drainage issue. Further information about Soviet Legacy and Current Central Asia with large areas irrigated with drainage system and with great pressure to overcome problems induced by soil salinization. To solve the above problem, existing technical conditions of drainage systems in irrigated agriculture, new technology and technical means of cleaning closed horizontal drains in the irrigation zone are necessary. Bibliometric analysis revealed that international research on irrigation and drainage would benefit from expanding scientific exchange on this topic, as well as from long-term, continuing studies and the sustainable integration of irrigation and drainage research into future agricultural and drainage system management concepts.