Urban sprawl and related problems: Bibliometric analysis and refined analysis from 1991 to 2011

To shed light on the general patterns and trends in urban sprawl research, and to provide reference for future study, bibliometric analysis and refined analysis are conducted for publications in this area from 1991 to 2011. The general publication output, the global geographical distribution of the authors, the funding and institutions involved, the research areas, and the source titles are analyzed and discussed. Scholars in the United States and China have produced most of the documents in urban sprawl and these two countries are also the largest contributors in terms of funding and institutions. ‘Environmental Sciences & Ecology’, ‘Urban Studies’, and ‘Geography’ are the most common research areas, and the journal titled Urban Studies has contributed the most articles. Furthermore, the refined analyses on the 500 top-cited and most relevant publications have revealed that research on urban sprawl is closely associated with the categories of ‘Urban form and development’, ‘Land use/land development’ and ‘environment/ecology/biology’. Conclusions are made with respect to the basic paradigm of research on urban sprawl. The multi-disciplinary research into urban sprawl are expected to be more diversified and integrated.