Bibliometric analysis of sustainable soil stabilization research: temporal trends, categorical shifts, and knowledge mapping (2000–2025)

Soil stabilization research has shifted dramatically since 2000 as environmental regulations tightened around traditional cement and lime methods. This bibliometric analysis examines 2,043 unique publications (2000–2025) from six categorized research sections, deduplicated by DOI and title. Publications grew from 5 papers in 2000 to a peak of 214 in 2020 a 42.8-fold expansion declining to 145 in 2025. Change-point analysis locates significant acceleration in 2013 (Pettitt, p = 0.0002; segmented breakpoint 2008, 95% CI 2006–2010); the trend is strongly monotonic (Mann–Kendall τ = 0.870, p < 0.001), with a logistic fit to the cumulative curve (K = 198, inflection 2015.7). A green transition index shows the waste-based share falling from 66.7% of annual output (2005) to 18.7% (2025), while four novel categories (bio-based, emerging, assessment, general) rose from 5.6% to 20.6% (three-year moving averages). Waste-based (43.6%) and bio-mediation (39.7%) dominate at 83.3%. Publishing spans 581 journals, led by Construction and Building Materials (97), Scientific Reports (59), and the Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering (57); title-term mapping identifies MICP/EICP as the largest thematic complex (18.1% of titles), with life-cycle terminology scarce (0.4%). These findings provide a reproducible evidence base for research policy in sustainable geotechnics.