Mapping the scientific research on natural landscape change with rephotography

Abstract Rephotography is the most common method used to observe landscape changes over time. The objective of this study was to analyze the trajectory of rephotography research with scientometrics. The Web of Science Core Collection database was used and a total of 315 publications on landscape change with rephotography from 1992 to 2020 were retrieved. The results identified that the number of articles published in this field was on the rise. Most of these articles describe changes in the natural landscape, such as changes in vegetation cover, the rate of plant growth, and the speed at which glaciers are retreating. The analysis results show that Dr. Michael Timm Hoffman published the most articles on rephotography, while Dr. Nyssen Jan collaborated the most with other researchers. The co-authorship analysis revealed that University of Cape Town (South Africa), Ghent University (Belgium), and US Geology Survey (USA) were the top three organizations. The USA, Canada and the UK showed active research cooperation with other countries. Geomorphology, Journal of Arid Environments, and Earth Surface Processes and Landforms were the most utilized journals. The co-occurrence and citation analysis also identified hot research areas in this field and the highly cited publications. Future development on new technology or user-friendly mobile applications is required for more widely applications of rephotography.