Global Evolution of Ecosystem Services Research Reveals a Shift toward Restoration, Data-Intensive Methods, and Policy Integration

Abstract

Ecosystem services (ES) research has expanded from a valuation-oriented ecological economics concept into a broad interdisciplinary field connecting biodiversity conservation, spatial planning, climate adaptation, human well-being and ecosystem accounting. However, the knowledge structure and post-2021 frontier shift of ES research require updated bibliometric evidence. This study analyzes 5,319 core publications exported from the Web of Science Core Collection. The original export contained 6,200 records from 13 plain-text files; after de-duplication based on Web of Science unique identifiers, 5,319 valid records published from 1998 to 2026 were retained. Annual publication output, source journals, Web of Science categories, countries, institutions, authors, keyword co-occurrence, co-cited references, thematic evolution and model/method terms were analyzed using reproducible bibliometric statistics and network-visualization procedures. The results show four stages of ES research: an initial emergence stage before 2005, a post-Millennium Ecosystem Assessment expansion stage during 2006-2010, a rapid consolidation stage during 2011-2015, and a mature diversification stage after 2016. Publication output peaked in 2021-2022 and remained high through 2025. China, the United States and the United Kingdom were the leading contributors, while the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wageningen University & Research, the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Beijing Normal University were among the most productive institutions. The journal Ecosystem Services was the dominant publication outlet, followed by Ecological Indicators, Sustainability and Ecological Economics. Keyword and method-term analyses reveal that the field has moved from valuation, classification and land-use assessment toward trade-offs and synergies, supply-demand matching, InVEST-based mapping, remote sensing, restoration, nature-based solutions, ecosystem accounting and machine learning. The 2021-2026 period shows a clear frontier shift toward restoration-oriented, data-intensive and policy-integrated ES research. This study provides a systematic article-level bibliometric assessment of ES research and identifies future directions for integrating ecological processes, social demand, human well-being and decision-support tools.