Review and future trends of soil microplastics research: visual analysis based on Citespace

Abstract Compared with the research results of water microplastics, soil microplastics have been of concern for a shorter time, and the research started later. As a whole, they are still in the initial stage of development, and the problems of arable land and food security caused by them have attracted close attention from scholars around the world, but have not been effectively solved. To reveal the research status, development and change process and future trend, this paper is based on the data in the Web of Science (WOS) databases from 2016 to November 2021, with the help of Citespace software. The number of articles published, source countries and degree of cooperation, research institutions and teams, keyword clustering and change trend are sorted out. The results showed that: (1) the research results of soil microplastics has experienced a slow-rapid growth stage. In terms of the number of articles published, China occupies the first place in the world, with 55 articles. In terms of the number of publications, Free Univ Berlin ranks first, followed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Berlin Brandenburg Inst Adv Biodivers Res, and Wageningen Univ&Res. (2) In terms of content, environmental pollution and exposure, the function and health of soil-associated media, the common shape characteristics of microplastics and their influencing factors, and the combined pollution caused by microplastics are all covered, and can be divided into eight main categories: soil, ingestion, heavy meals, fiber, marine environment, microplastic, metals, and plants. (3) The migration behavior and ecotoxicological effects of microplastics in soil media are still the focus of attention at present. (4) In the future, “regression process and mechanism", “detection method and evaluation standard”, “risk assessment model”, “removal technology and control means” are undoubtedly worthy of attention.