Mapping soybean physiology research based on the web of science

The aim of this paper was to map the scientific research on soybean physiology by usingbibliographic review and analyses of papers indexed up to July 31, 2014 in the web of sciencedatabase. A total of 1682 non-redundant bibliographic records were curated. The soybeanphysiology research experienced two major periods. The first period was from 1943 when thefirst soybean paper was published to 1989 during which a small and gradual increase took placewith no more than 12 annual publications. The second period being from 1990 to present, saw asubstantial increase in annual publications ranging from 35 to 92 per year. Authors representinga total of 76 countries were involved in soybean physiology research. Drs. T.R. Sinclair andDr. D.B. Egli were the most productive authors while the USDA/ARS, University of Illinoisand Iowa State University published the most influential articles. The most productive journalswere the Journals of Crop Science, Plant Physiology, Plant and Soil, Field Crops Research themost research subject categories were nitrogen fixation, photosynthesis, growth, mineralnutrition, genotypes, drought stress, yield and quality. Gene expression for quality and yieldunder drought stress has become a favored topic for soybean physiology. Eight out of the topten productive institutions were located in the USA. The USA exceeded all other countries withthe most independent and collaborative papers on soybean physiology research. The status ofpublications on soybean physiology described here may serve as a tool for guiding researchersin their future work.