“Alligator weed” on the radar: where are we now and where should we go?

Alternanthera philoxeroides (APs), a globally invasive perennial weed, threatens agriculture and ecosystems owing to its rapid clonal spread and strong adaptability. Despite extensive research on APs biology and management, a bibliometric synthesis that systematically maps the intellectual structure and evolving research fronts of this field has not yet been conducted. To address this gap, a bibliometric analysis was performed on 833 APs-related publications from 1943 to 2025 using VOSviewer and CiteSpace. Results show that APs research has gained increasing attention, with China as the most productive country, the Chinese Academy of Sciences as the most productive institution, and Feihai Yu as the most prolific author. “Plant Sciences” was the most represented category, with Frontiers in Plant Science and Journal of Aquatic Plant Management as the most productive journals. Four research hotspots were identified: (1) invasive biological traits (clonal integration and epigenetic plasticity); (2) control strategies (biological and chemical); (3) tolerance mechanisms and remediation applications under heavy metal and salt stress; and (4) invasion dynamics under climate change. Three emerging frontiers were identified as model-based distribution forecasting to inform biological control decisions, disturbance-defense feedback mechanisms, and resource utilization for agricultural quality enhancement and environmental benefits. Future research should address synergistic effects of multiple stressors (e.g., elevated CO₂, UV-B, and microplastics) and integrate remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS), and Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) with biomolecular tools to support adaptive management frameworks.