A Bibliometric analysis of publications on Batticaloa lagoon from 1954 to 2024

Abstract

The Batticaloa Lagoon in Eastern Province is Sri Lanka's third-largest brackish water body. More than 90% of the lagoon is in the Batticaloa District, with the southern end belonging to Ampara District. This study aims to conduct a bibliometric analysis of publications on Batticaloa Lagoon to identify research trends, assess knowledge gaps, track the evolution of scientific understanding, map key contributors and evaluate research impact over the given duration. The analysis will provide insights to guide future research and conservation efforts for this unique coastal ecosystem. The attempt to quantify the published literature on Batticaloa Lagoon using a narrative literature review was focused on two scholarly databases, namely Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar search engine. A literature search conducted in January 2025 using the keyword "Batticaloa Lagoon" as the search query yielded 16 records in Scopus, 15 in Web of Science, and 547 in Google Scholar, excluding duplicates. Eventually, 180 documents were identified directly relevant to the search query to further analyze publication type, year, number of authors per publication, number of citations, institutions with the most prolific authors, collaborations, and keywords. Among those 180 publications, approximately 41% were journal Abstracts, 27% were Abstracts from conference proceedings and 11% were theses and dissertations. The highest number of documents were published in 2017 which accounts for 13, followed by 12 Abstracts each during 2012, 2019, and 2021. The relationship between the age of the Abstracts, and the number of Abstracts indicated increased research activity. Recent publications maintaining a positive relative growth of 0.074 included more than 50% of publications from 2015 to 2024. The highest contribution of 36% was from single authors, followed by 28% from two-author publications. Authors with 10 or more publications on Batticaloa Lagoon were affiliated with Eastern University, South-Eastern University, and University of Peradeniya. Tropical Agricultural Research, Journal of Science, EUSL, and AGRIEAST were the three most popular journals to include Abstracts on Batticaloa Lagoon. A book chapter receiving 221 citations has the highest number of citations per year (13.81). Most of the scholarly contributions were on regulating, provisioning and supporting ecosystem services with limited emphasis on cultural ecosystem services. The prominent keywords were Water quality, Mangroves, Salinity, Sediments, Dissolved oxygen, and Heavy metals. Identifying scholars and their contributions to advancing the knowledge domain of this unique coastal ecosystem could facilitate future research and promote collaborations in addition to effective information sharing of published scientific content.