Global trends and development of maize breeding for drought tolerance over the past fifty-four years based on bibliometric analysis

Abstract This bibliometric study analyzes 1,347 publications on drought-tolerant maize breeding (1971–2025). The findings demonstrate that, with significant intellectual consolidations in the mid-1990s and early 2010s, research production has increased continuously at a pace of 9.48%. Geographically, scientific production is concentrated; around 45% of all publications come from China, the US, and India, while CIMMYT, ICAR, and IITA hold institutional leadership. Major study areas such as agronomy/climate, plant physiology, genetics/genomics, and molecular control are highlighted by thematic analysis, which represents a transition from field-based to gene-centered methodologies. International cooperation, soil microbiology and spatiotemporal drought modeling, socioeconomic research, and digital breeding technologies are found to have priority gaps. These findings suggest that future progress will depend on enhancing transdisciplinary integration and globally connected research networks to accelerate the translation of genetic advances into resilient agricultural systems.