Econometric analysis of research status of malignant invasive alien plant Lantana camara.

Invasive alien plant Lantana camara is a globally harmful weed, native to the Americas, that has spread to areas of southern and southwestern China and poses a serious threat to plants in invaded areas. In this article, we conducted a comparative analysis of the Chinese and English literature research on L. camara to understand the differences in research focus.Based on the research hotspots and frontiers, the future research directions in domestic and international contexts are also predicted. Using visualization software CiteSpace and core database of Web of Science and CNKI as data sources, we analyzed the number of publications, research institutions and authors, research hotspots and research frontiers on L. camara during 1980-2022. The research findings indicate that the attention on L. camara has increased in recent decades both domestically and internationally. The research directions are generally similar, mainly focusing on invasion control, chemical composition, medicinal value, etc., but the depth and breadth of domestic research needs to be strengthened, especially in invasion control and utilization is the future focus.