Bibliometric Analysis of Models for Temperate Forest Management: A Global Perspective on Sustainable Forest Management Tools

Introduction: Bibliometric analysis is a quantitative tool for recognizing trends and research gaps in topics of scientific interest. Objective: To identify progress in scientific production, collaborative networks, research issues and application of models of temperate forest management (MTFM), on a global scale, in relation to management, productivity, carbon storage and nutrient cycling. Materials and methods: The review focused on the collection of data from the Web of Science Core Collection platform in the period 2005-2019. Results and discussion: The bibliometric analysis made possible to collect 960 specialized scientific articles on the topic, from journals indexed in Journal Citation Reports (JCR). The institutions with the greatest academic authority in forest management studies were Natural Resources of Canada (NRCan), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) and US Forest Service. MTFM topics focused on forest plantation growth, effects of forest practices on structure, productivity, carbon sequestration and, to a lesser extent, nutrient availability. Mexico showed low collaboration with other institutions and a forest approach in the application of models. Conclusions: The analysis helped to guide research on MTFM in Mexico. The implementation of models is recommended to achieve forest harvesting based on an integrated understanding of the system and thus provide sustainability.