Comprehensive scientometric analysis of worldwide river sediment pollution: detection methods and effective...

Industries, agriculture, deforestation, urbanization, and waste disposal are major sources of river pollution, causing contamination and eutrophication. Although river water quality has been widely studied, sediment pollution remains a persistent and often overlooked threat due to the buildup of toxic substances. This review examines 22 years of global research on river sediment pollution, screening 554 Scopus articles in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. Of these, 179 papers focus on ten key parameters: polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), freely dissolved PCBs, pesticide concentration, particulate organic matter, total organic carbon, total organic nitrogen, total organic phosphorus, total suspended solids, ecotoxicity tests, and heavy metal concentration. A scientometric analysis using VOSviewer is done to evaluate keyword co-occurrence, publication trends, leading countries, influential journals, and research areas. This is the first review to integrate these ten parameters within a unified scientometric and qualitative framework, providing a comprehensive overview of the research landscape. The review highlights dominant pollutants such as PCBs and heavy metals, systematically identifies research gaps, and notes that environmental engineering is the leading subject area. It also identifies the most productive researchers, the most frequently cited articles, and the major contributing countries, including significant contributions from developing nations. Study sites, assessment methods, and key findings are summarized, along with lists of the most harmful contaminants and publication trends. The review recommends mitigation strategies and serves as a valuable reference for future research, risk assessment, and sediment management.