From salinity, alkalinity, and sodicity to vegetation recovery: a bibliometric analysis and thematic mapping of plant responses and restoration strategies

Introduction Saline, alkaline, and sodic soils constrain plant establishment, but research on vegetation restoration is spread across plant physiology, soil reclamation, and restoration ecology. Methods We searched Web of Science Core Collection and Scopus, obtaining 554 English-language articles and reviews published through 2025, and used bibliometric analysis and thematic mapping to examine research patterns and thematic development. Publication, country, and text analyses used all 554 records; keyword networks, thematic trends, and cited-reference analyses used 386 Web of Science records. Results Of the 554 publications, 343 (61.9%) appeared in 2019–2025, with 102 in 2025. China, the United States, Australia, India, and Spain contributed the most publications. The keyword network comprised 120 terms and 951 edges. Greedy modularity analysis identified four communities (Q = 0.279), covering vegetation restoration, plant salt-stress responses, soil reclamation, and soil–nutrient–microbial associations. Annual output (Pearson r = 0.984) and country rankings (Spearman ρ = 0.917) were highly consistent across databases. Discussion Drawing on these bibliometric results and representative studies, we propose an establishment-bottleneck perspective that considers transitions between germination, seedling survival, root development, and persistent vegetation cover, together with potential feedbacks between these processes and soil conditions. The accompanying conceptual Diagnose–Match–Sequence–Monitor–Adapt framework and reporting checklist connect stress diagnosis, intervention sequencing, and joint plant–soil monitoring to inform field research on plant establishment and sustained vegetation restoration.