Nivar

Nivar

A bibliometric review on the impact of compound drought and heatwave events from 2000 to 2024

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Farzaneh Shirmohammadi Faradonbeh 1
Bahram Bakhtiari 2
Somayeh Hejabi 3
1 Department of Water Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resorces, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman,
2 Water Engineering Department, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, Iran
3 Department of Water Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Urmia University
10.30467/nivar.2026.526086.1338
Abstract
Drought is a hydro-climatological extreme phenomenon that has historically afflicted most regions of Iran. Heatwaves are defined as consecutive periods of exceptionally hot days with air temperatures exceeding a specific threshold. Climate change plays a pivotal role in the occurrence of these extreme events, both by intensifying the frequency and severity of droughts and by increasing the likelihood of heatwave episodes. The simultaneous occurrence of these two phenomena can exacerbate environmental stressors, including vegetation degradation, reduced agricultural productivity, and severe depletion of water resources. Bibliometric analysis serves as a robust methodology for elucidating the significance of concurrent extreme events and identifying future research trajectories. This analytical approach provides a rigorous framework for processing large volumes of scientific outputs, including peer-reviewed articles, books, reports, and related documents, and has been widely employed to quantitatively map the interrelationships among various research domains. The publications examined in this study were retrieved from the comprehensive databases of Science Direct and Scopus, using the keywords "Drought" and "Heatwave" to identify relevant literature. Bibliometric mapping was conducted using VOSviewer software. A total of 1,231 documents pertaining to drought and heatwave research, published between 2000 and 2024, were identified, with the earliest article appearing in 2002 and the highest annual output recorded in 2024 (315 documents, accounting for 25.6% of the total corpus). This upward trend is attributable to the escalating global concern over climate change and the increasing frequency of compound extreme events. China ranks first in drought-related publications, while Iran occupies the eighth position. Regarding heatwave research, the United States is the leading contributor. The journal Science of The Total Environment ranks first with 121 publications on drought and heatwave topics. Among all keywords, "Climate Change" exhibited the highest frequency of occurrence. The overall findings of this study underscore the growing scientific attention to compound climatic extremes and highlight the imperative for a paradigm shift from traditional disciplinary approaches toward interdisciplinary research frameworks-a strategic necessity for adaptive policymaking and vulnerability reduction in high-risk countries, including Iran.
Keywords
Bibliometric analysis
Climate change
Compound events
Drought
Heatwave
Subjects
 
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  • Receive Date 25 May 2025
  • Revise Date 22 July 2026
  • Accept Date 27 July 2026
  • Publish Date 23 September 2026