Insights into imidacloprid: a scientometric review of knowledge and gaps over three decades

The potential impact of imidacloprid on human and environmental health has been the topic of recent research. The present study conducted an unprecedented scientometric analysis of the insecticide imidacloprid, encompassing all articles addressing it, to provide an overview of studies that detect and analyze its effects. Scientific publications were obtained from the Web of Science™, and after manually reviewing all titles, abstracts, and methods, articles related to imidacloprid were selected for analysis. The results were analyzed using the Microsoft Office Excel®, VosViewer, and R programs, the last one using the 'Bibliometrix' package. A total of 5,485 articles were written by 16,224 authors with an H-index of 128, suggesting a relevant impact factor for this line of research. Over time, the research has had thematic changes: in the first decade (1991-2001), it was most related to the actions of this insecticide in the target organisms, and in the last decade (2012-2022), there has been an increase in studies on ways to detect this insecticide in different matrices and its toxicity. The increase in the frequency of the keyword "toxicity" demonstrates that researchers have concentrated on understanding the effects of this insecticide, particularly on bees. Researchers have invested more in detecting the presence of imidacloprid in water and its consequences for non-target organisms. However, it is still necessary to invest in research and technologies to remediate the presence of these compounds in surface waters, soils, and sediments, minimizing the chronic exposure of non-target organisms.