Weather, Climate, and Society: A Retrospective between 2009 and 2022 Using Bibliometric and Content Analysis

Abstract This paper aims to analyze the bibliometrics of articles published in Weather, Climate, and Society ( WCAS ) over the last 14 years (2009–22). We conducted an analysis using the Scopus database and cross-checked the WCAS online journal and obtained 577 document results (article) and then analyzed and visualized using VOSviewer, Sankey diagrams, altmetric, and content analysis. This research was conducted to show publication trends, citation rates, productivity levels, and developments in research topics at WCAS . The study results show that the 577 articles published in Weather, Climate, and Society have become references for 7106 other articles and are spread across 160 publication sources. Based on the most cited articles, five cluster topics are references for many papers, namely, climate change and environmental management policy, weather risk assessment, climate hazard assessment, anthropogenic climate change, and decision support systems. Climatic Change , International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction , and Sustainability Switzerland are the three publications with the most citations of articles published by WCAS . Research topics related to climate change, decision-making, risk assessment, the United States, societal impacts, social science, communications/decision-making, and vulnerability are the eight most commonly discussed topics in WCAS articles. Significance Statement From 2009 to 2022, 1773 authors published WCAS articles, either individually or collaboratively, across 1350 institutional affiliations in 70 countries. Using Scopus metadata, this study employs bibliometric and content analysis to explore temporal trends, article impact metrics, citation characteristics, and topic shifts in WCAS publications over this period. The findings indicate that analyzing citations, topics, and authors aids in understanding a journal’s interdisciplinary accessibility. Notably, highly cited papers in WCAS do not necessarily score high on altmetrics, suggesting that future impact measures might integrate academic and social media metrics. Prolific authors often collaborate rather than publish solo. Dominant research topics include climate change, decision-making, risk assessment, social impacts, and U.S. issues.