Groundwater pollution simulation: A systematic review and bibliometric analysis from 1990 to 2024

Numerical simulation has emerged as a cost-effective strategy for addressing groundwater contamination challenges, a field that has witnessed remarkable advancements in recent decades. Despite this progress, a systematic review synthesizing the existing body of research is notably absent. To bridge this gap, we present the first holistic systematic review spanning 30 years of global groundwater pollution simulation studies, based on 1059 publications analyzed through bibliometric methods. Our study aims to dissect the knowledge structure, track research developments, and pinpoint frontier topics to guide future scholarly endeavors. Moving beyond traditional summaries, we quantitatively identified the spatiotemporal performance of research themes, including the most prolific publications, contributing institutions, renowned authors, and influential journals. Utilizing a comparative approach, we visually analyzed and mapped highly cooperative countries, domain disciplines, productive keywords, and research hotspots. Among the findings, China emerges as a leading contributor, considering the total publications, institutions, and core researchers involved. While conventional topics such as groundwater transport and nonpoint pollution continue to be prioritized, there is a growing emphasis on heavy metal, surrogate models, and climate change to meet evolving global environmental challenges. This research offers valuable insights for scholars, executives, and professionals, facilitating the development of economically and environmentally sustainable strategies to tackle groundwater pollution issues. Graphical Abstract