Global soybean research dynamic analysis based on SCI-EXPANDED database.

We analyzed the amount of soybean-related articles and the citation of research countries,institutions,authors,and journals based on SCI-EXPANDED database of Web of Science. Literature co-citation maps associated with soybean research and knowledge were generated by CiteSpace III information visualization software,and it directly demonstrated the knowledge base and research forefront of soybean. The results showed that a total of 17 576 soybean research articles from 122 countries were published,with the 36 190 authors belonging to 5 879 organizations. The number of articles increased by year in general, and the top five countries by article number were the USA,Brazil,China,Japan,and South Korea. In terms of article quality, the United States Department of Agriculture,Iowa State University,and University of Illinois excelled to other organizations. Hartman G L,Shoemaker R C,Boerma H R,and Nelson R L from USA,and Cober E R from Canada were the top five productive authors for soybean research in the world. Articles were most frequently published in Crop Science,Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry,Journal of the American Oil Chemists Society,Agronomy Journal and Pesquisa Agropecuaria Brasileira,focusing on the categories of plant sciences,agronomy,food science technology,agriculture-multidisciplinary,chemistry-applied,and biochemistry molecular biology. The research forefronts covered the areas of soybean molecular biology,plant protection,genetics and breeding,processing and quality,transformation technology,soybean meal,and biodiesel. In general,China has ranked high in soybean research scale and levels in terms of publication number,but the number of high-impacted articles was insufficient. It was proposed that more efforts should be put on soybean research in China to improve its international influence.