Two decades of cultural ecosystem services research (2005–2024): A global bibliometric and thematic mapping

Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES) refer to the intangible, non-material benefits that ecosystems provide to human life. In recent years, CES research has garnered increasing scholarly attention due to its vital role in enhancing human well-being, cultural identity, and social cohesion. This growing interest has also sparked bibliometric analyses of CES; however, most of these studies remain limited in thematic scope or geographical coverage. Consequently, there is a lack of analysis that comprehensively traces the evolution of CES research from its formal conceptualization in 2005 to the present day. To address this gap, this study employs advanced bibliometric techniques to systematically map the development and trends of CES research from 2005 to 2024. Specifically, 1192 research articles on CES are selected from the Web of Science Core Collection (SCI-EXPANDED, SSCI, and AHCI) to serve as the dataset for analysis. Advanced bibliometric tools, VOSviewer, CiteSpace, and Bibliometrix (R package), are utilized for the analysis. The findings reveal key patterns in publication trends, thematic structures, and institutional collaborations on CES studies over the past two decades, while also critically examining the epistemological and methodological orientations of these efforts. Finally, this review calls for a reorientation of CES research to advance culturally attuned, equitable, and resilient sustainable futures.