Research progress of freeze–thaw rock using bibliometric analysis

Freeze–thaw cycles significantly impact resource development and construction projects in alpine regions. This study presents a bibliometric analysis based on the Web of Science database, spanning the period from 2000 to 2023. This analysis evaluates the status of hotspots and research trends in freeze–thaw rock. Our findings reveal that rock freeze–thaw research is a typical multiauthor, multicounty, and multi-institution cooperative field involved in many research fields. China had the highest number (420) of peer-review publications. According to the number of publications, 28 of the top 30 institutions are in China. The top 30 authors, ranked by their publications, contributed 55.4% of the total publications. The cumulative number of publications has presented an exponential increase over the past 23 years, with maximum annual growth rate of 36.9%. The keyword analysis suggests the emergence of modern technological techniques, including numerical simulation, microscopic rock structure analysis, and machine learning, in recent years augment to traditional methods. This article also identifies three potential areas for future research, thereby aiding in understanding the past developments, current status, and future trends of freeze–thaw rock research. Additionally, it provides a theoretical basis for engineering construction and slope disaster management in alpine regions.