Determining the Role of Urban Greenery in Soil Hydrology: A Bibliometric Analysis of Nature-Based Solutions in Urban Ecosystem Khan, Muhammad Owais Keesstra, Saskia Słowik-Opoka, Ewa Klamerus-Iwan, Anna Liaqat, Waqas Nature-based solutions Urban soil hydrology VoSViewer Bibliometric analysis Urbanization This research was funded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Poland, with support specifically provided by the Department of Ecological Engineering and Forest Hydrology, University of Agriculture in Krakow. Nature-based solutions play an essential role in enhancing urban soil hydrology by improving water retention properties, reducing surface runoff, and improving water infiltration. This bibliometric analysis study reviewed the literature and identified the current trends in research related to nature-based solutions in urban soil hydrology. The study has the potential to highlight current research areas and future hot topics in this specific field. The research used the Scopus database to collect published articles from 1973 to 2023. The keywords (“trees” OR “vegetation” OR “green infrastructure” OR “blue green infrastructure” OR “greenery” OR “nature-based solutions” AND “hydrolog*” AND “urban” OR “city” OR “soil”) were searched in the Scopus database, and 13,276 articles were retrieved. The obtained publications were analyzed for bibliometric analysis by using Bibliometrix (v4.3.0) and VOSviewer (v1.6.20) software. The maximum number of publications (970) related to nature-based solutions and urban soil hydrology was published in 2023. Additionally, countries such as the United States and China published 54.2% of articles of the global research in the field of nature-based solutions and urban soil hydrology, with 36% from the USA and 18.2% of articles from China. The bibliometric analysis depicted that Beijing Normal University led this specific research field with 540 articles. The top country in terms of collaboration was the USA, with 26.17% as compared to the global countries. The most productive researcher identified was Jackson, T.J., as he had the highest number of publications, showing his considerable contribution to the field. Furthermore, the most frequent keywords used in this research area were hydrology, ecosystem services, urban hydrology, remote sensing, nature-based solutions, climate change, runoff, stormwater management, water quality, vegetation, green roof, bioretention, and land use. The early research trending topics in this field from 2015 to 2023 were remote sensing, soil moisture, climate change, drought, green infrastructure, machine learning, and nature-based solutions. The bibliometric analysis identified limited interdisciplinary research integrations, not using well-significant and standardized methodologies for the evaluation of urban soil hydrology, and under-representation of research from developing countries as current research gaps. Future research directions highlight advanced methods such as combining data-driven technologies with traditional hydrological approaches, and increasing international collaboration, specifically in developing nations, to address urban soil hydrological problems properly. 2025-03-24T09:29:48Z 2025-03-24T09:29:48Z 2025-01-23 journal article Khan, M.O.; D. Keesstra, S.; Słowik-Opoka, E.; Klamerus-Iwan, A.; Liaqat, W. Determining the Role of Urban Greenery in Soil Hydrology: A Bibliometric Analysis of Nature-Based Solutions in Urban Ecosystem. Water 2025, 17, 322. https://doi.org/10.3390/w17030322 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/103265 10.3390/w17030322 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ open access Atribución 4.0 Internacional MDPI