A Science Mapping Perspective of the Spectrum of Giant Panda Research (1929–2022)

Nowadays, new data-driven science paradigms have been revolutionizing the way of acquiring knowledge and its derivatives. In addition, understanding the knowledge structure of a specific domain is valuable to the application/transformation of science in practice, especially in the era where biodiversity is given top priority. This study combines both performance analysis and science mapping to detect, quantify, and visualize the predominant themes covered by research on giant pandas and their conservation, collected from the Web of Science during the period of 1929–2022. In total, 1456 publications were analyzed with 2090 valid keywords. Twenty-four main themes were detected using co-word analysis. The most productive themes were WOLONG-NATURE-RESERVE, CLIMATE-CHANGE, CARNIVORA, NATURE-RESERVE, and ECOSYSTEM-SERVICES, according to the number of published documents, and the most impacting ones were WOLONG-NATURE-RESERVE, CARNIVORA, CLIMATE-CHANGE, ECOSYSTEM-SERVICES, DNA, and BACTERIA according to the citations, whereas the h-index indicates that the top six themes were: WOLONG-NATURE-RESERVE, CARNIVORA, CLIMATE-CHANGE, ECOSYSTEM-SERVICES, NATURE-RESERVE, and AILURUS-FULGENS. As a result, this indicates worthwhile prospects for the future study of giant panda conservation, which will focus more on the following hot themes: GUT-MICROBIOTA, ECOSYSTEM-SERVICES, HABITAT, and CLIMATE-CHANGE. Meanwhile, WOLONG still takes center stage in giant panda research. Therefore, by building a more comprehensive conceptual structure of giant panda research, this study contributes to current and future developments in this field.