Development, Application and Challenges of Set Pair Analysis in Environmental Science from 1989 to 2020: A Bibliometric Review

Set pair analysis is a new intelligent algorithm for dealing with complex uncertain problems, and it is widely used in environmental science because of its concise structure and scalability of results. However, it is still unclear about the development stage distribution of set pair analysis in environmental science and the specific development and application in key areas. Therefore, based on the method of bibliometrics, this paper studies the development, application and challenges of set pair analysis in environmental science over the past 32 years (1989–2020). The analysis found that in terms of time dimension, the development process of set pair analysis is divided into three stages: the initial stage (1989–2011); the rapid development stage (2012–2015); the steady development stage (2016 to present). In terms of specific fields, this article focuses on the development and application of set pair analysis in the three fields of ecology, water resources, and atmospheric environmental science. It is found that set pair analysis is mainly used for environmental assessment, diagnosis and prediction. In particular, the development of partial connection numbers is a new research trend of set pair analysis, which plays an important role in environmental assessment, diagnosis and prediction. However, the current set pair analysis also has the shortcomings of strong subjectivity, an imperfect theoretical system, and unbalanced development at home and abroad. Only when these deficiencies are solved, can the development of set pair analysis in environmental science be further promoted.