Links between Flash Floods and Hydrogeomorphic Approach: A Bibliometric Analysis

Understanding the hazards associated with water requires the use of a hydrogeomorphic approach, which considers both hydrologic and geomorphic aspects. In recent decades, research on flash floods has increasingly adopted this approach. However, the overall number of studies and their trends have not been thoroughly documented. Our study aims to analyze the evolution of scientific publications examining flash floods from a hydrogeomorphic perspective on a global scale to understand the trends and research gaps based on a bibliometric analysis. A comprehensive search for relevant publications was conducted in the Web of Science and Scopus databases, covering the period from 1973 to 2024. The resulting data were processed using R software, whereas the spatial distribution network of the publications was analyzed using VOSviewer software. Our analysis identified 212 articles focusing on flash floods as a hydrogeomorphic process. The number of publications has increased since 2012, peaking in 2023 with 21 new articles. Twenty-eight percent of the publications originated from the United States, Spain, and Italy, whereas the most extensive global collaboration network involved researchers from France, the United States, and Canada. A total of 87% of the publications on temperate zones, whereas 13% addressed intertropical environments, where hydrogeomorphic hazards can be particularly devastating. Our study underscores the importance of future research on flash floods hazards in intertropical zones, highlighting the need to incorporate hydrogeomorphic characteristics and processes into studies of flash floods and related phenomena such as floods, debris flows, landslides, and erosion.