Synergistic Carbon-Nitrogen Pollution Reduction and Emission Mitigation in Agricultural Land: A CiteSpace-Based Bibliometric Analysis

Global climate change poses escalating ecological challenges, with agriculture contributing approximately 30% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, primarily from nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4). The farmland carbon-nitrogen cycle represents a key nexus for coordinating pollution control and carbon mitigation. This study applies bibliometric methods, including co-occurrence analysis, clustering, and burst detection, to 1286 publications retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection (1990–2025) and CiteSpace 6.2.R4. Results indicate that China (444 papers, centrality 0.42), the United States (211 papers), and Germany (151 papers) are leading contributors, with major institutions forming a multi-centered international collaboration network. Keyword analysis identified 11 core clusters (modularity Q = 0.82, silhouette S = 0.91), with nitrous oxide emerging as the central theme (frequency 670). The field has evolved through three stages: fundamental emission mechanism studies (1990–2005), agricultural management practices (2006–2015), and integrated mitigation strategies with microbial mechanism exploration (2016–2025). Current frontiers emphasize microbial-mediated carbon-nitrogen cycling and yield-scaled emission assessments bridging theory and practice. Future research should prioritize cross-scale coupling analysis, multi-objective management frameworks, smart agricultural technologies, and policy integration. This study provides a systematic bibliometric mapping of the evolution of synergistic carbon-nitrogen research in agricultural systems, offering a quantitative overview of development trends and research gaps.