Abstract:

In recent decades, the root exudates and applied research in ecology has made significant progress. In particular, more and more attentions were paid to the role and functions of the root exudates of forest vegetation in ecological restoration and reconstruction process. Using the databases of SCIE, CPCIS, CCR, and IC as the sources, we retrieved and analyzed the articles on the root exudates (including original articles, conference abstracts and proceedings, as well as reviews). The analytical tools of Thomson Data Analyzer (TDA), and Aureka analysis platform were used for data mining. The results showed that the multiple disciplines were involved in the research of plant root exudates, especially botany and edaphology with the largest number of papers in recent years. About the distribution of countries in this research field, the related papers from the United States accounted for 28.93% of total published papers. The main funding agencies supporting the research of plant root exudates were U.S. National Science Foundation and the National Natural Science Foundation of China. The MeSH distribution and annual variation on the research topics using bibliometric analysis revealed that the international and domestic status and trend of research on the root exudates of plants, especially trees (as distinguished from crops).

Key words: Root exudates, Trees, Soil, Bibliometric analysis