Booming research on rice physiology and management in China: A bibliometric analysis based on three major agronomic journals

Rice research has always been the top priority in China and China produces the highest number of scientific journal papers on rice, particularly on rice genetics and breeding. In this study, we used a bibliometric approach to analyze the trends of papers published by Chinese researchers on rice physiology and management. Data were collected from three major agronomic journals (i.e., Agronomy Journal, Crop Science, and Field Crops Research) by searching in the Web of Science on September 8, 2017. A total of 186 rice papers were published by Chinese researchers on crop physiology and management in the three journals since their establishment. Yearly average number of such papers was 1.6, 6.5, and 21.0 for the periods of 1993–2005, 2006–2011, and 2012–2017, respectively. Their quality in terms of citation performance has also improved significantly in the recent decade. Huazhong Agricultural University, Yangzhou University, and Nanjing Agricultural University were leading organizations and published 54.4% of all 186 papers. Huang Min of Hunan Agricultural University and Peng Shaobing of Huazhong Agricultural University published the most number of rice papers on crop physiology and management as the first and corresponding authors, respectively. Yield potential and nitrogen-related research such as nitrogen use efficiency, nitrogen management, and plant nitrogen diagnosis have been the research focuses for rice crop. In recent years, research on global warming including high temperature stress, direct seeding, zero tillage, Bt rice, and critical nitrogen dilution curve were becoming popular. New research is emerging on yield gap, rice ratooning, and simplified and reduced-input practices in rice production.