Global knowledge domain and prospects in tuna research: A bibliometric analysis

Tunas are among the most economically important fish species and play critical roles in food composition and nutrition of humans. As apex predators, they also keep the marine ecosystem healthy and balanced. Both natural and human factors influence the status of this important marine resource and their habitats. There is a large cadre of studies on how tunas are of great significance to the exploitation and management of their fisheries, yet there are few summaries of this research. We aimed to quantitatively and qualitatively synthesize the global knowledge structure and emerging trends in tuna research using bibliometric software. References with "Tuna", "Katsuwonus", or "Thunnus" as the subject in the Web of Science Core Collection Database from 1995 to 2019 were visually analyzed using CiteSpace. Publication rate and output, active countries, institutions, authors, and co-cited references were performed. Results suggested that the number of international tuna research papers increased significantly between 2000 and 2010, as a considerable number of high-impact articles emerged during this period. Researchers paid more attention to 19 main topics during this period, notably "overfishing", "bycatch", "climate change", "marine pollution", and "fish management", which all posed potential risks and challenges to tuna survival. Future research should emphasize resolving these challenges and building international cooperation for the proper management of tuna populations.