The global progress on the non-point source pollution research from 2012 to 2021: a bibliometric analysis

Abstract Background With effective control of point source pollution, non-point (NPS) pollution has been widely concerned as the primary reason for improvement global water environmental quality. Some bibliometric analysis related to NPS carried out before mid-2010s. Analyzing research status and hot issues in past decade is important guiding management future. Results A was conducted based on 3407 publications retrieved from Web Science during 2012–2021. China, USA UK were most productive countries. Sci. Total Environ, Environ. Pollut. Res, Water journals. The pollutant, types, driving forces, technology object keywords analysis. common pollutants nitrogen, phosphorus, heavy metals grabbed highest attention, while emerging contaminants have attracted increased attention. migration transformation agricultural urban driven by climate change land use studies. Technologies combination 3S (RS, GIS, GPS) models, sustainable technologies, accurate traceability automatic monitoring, comprehensive plan areas pollution. Although locations mostly concentrated surface groundwater, ocean drinking great potential future research. Conclusions This study illustrates focuses 2012–2021 according analyzing publication outputs, journals, country, author, institution high-frequency keywords. demonstrated that mechanism ecological risk assessment pollutants, techniques, restoration marine rising Additionally, developing countries will a higher interest future, because developed already made progress controlling