Microalgae research worldwide

Abstract

In this paper, worldwide research trends in the microalgae field are analyzed based on a bibliometric study. We have looked at the number of publications and their distribution, as well as the most relevant journals and keywords, to determine the evolution and latest tendencies in this field. The results confirm that this is a fast-growing area in terms of the number of publications. The most relevant journals on this subject are Bioresource Technology and Algal Research. Although the majority of papers come out of the USA, the most relevant institutions are actually located in China, France and Spain. The most frequently cited strains are Chlorella and Chlamydomonas. The main keywords that appear in over 1,000 articles are generally related to microalgae cultivation applications such as 'biomass, biofuel, and lipids' while others are related to the methodology; for instance, 'bioreactor'. Of all the keywords, 'biomass' stands out, as it appears in almost 20% of publications. Bibliographic analysis confirms that Microalgae Biotechnology is a very active field, where scientific productivity has exponentially increased over recent years in tandem with industrial production. Therefore, expectations are high in this field for the near future.

A Bibliometric Analysis of Microalgae Research in the World, Europe, and the European Atlantic Area

“…An increased interest of the scientific community in microalgae can be noticed since 2005, as demonstrated by the rapid increase in the world and European publication rates and the important inflection of the publication slope, as highlighted by Garrido-Cardenas et al (2018). These authors estimated that a 15-fold acceleration of the publication rate was observed after 2005 [4]. In our data including environmental studies about microalgae and phytoplankton, this acceleration was lower, suggesting that the fast acceleration of publication rates may be mostly attributed to publications dealing with biotechnological applications of microalgae.…”

The Role of Smart Contracts in Sustainability: Worldwide Research Trends

“…The analysis of the keywords with which the works are indexed is one of the most relevant aspects in bibliometric analysis [38,39]. If the results obtained are analyzed according to keywords, and a cloud word is made with on-line software (see Figure 6) a strong relationship can be observed between blockchain technology, smart grids (SGs), and smart energy grids, as well as virtual currencies or electronic money (Ethereum, Electronic Money).…”

“…There are also two keywords that, a priori, could go unnoticed, commerce and smart cards, which have a great relationship with the categories of social sciences and business, management, and accounting. This is particularly evident in the analysis of smart contracts in their focus on brokering, their transparent nature, the promise of greater commercial efficiency, lower legal and transaction costs, and, above all, the apparent advantage of anonymous transactions [39]. Figure 7 groups the keywords by large areas of knowledge, according to the Scopus indexation (subject area), and it can be seen that the first one, as was foreseeable, is computer science, followed by engineering via the theme of intelligent networks.…”

Techno-Economic Analysis of Biogas Production from Microalgae through Anaerobic Digestion

“…The microalgal strains which have been investigated extensively include Scenedesmus, Chlamydomonas, Chlorella, and Nannochloropsis [12]. The compositions of these four species are shown in Table 2.…”

“…With such versatility, microalgae appear to be a promising biorenewable resource that has the potential to completely replace fossil resources [11]. Research in microalgae biotechnology has increased dramatically since 2005 and has been a very active field in recent years, especially to produce biomass and biofuels [12,110,111,117,118,136,143].…”