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REVIEW article
Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Toxicology, Pollution and the Environment
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2025.1545699
Global progress and prospects of triclosan and triclocarban research in the environmental field: A bibliometric analysis and review
Provisionally accepted- 1 Chinese PLA Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China
- 2 Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Beijing, China
The widespread application of triclosan (TCS) and triclocarban (TCC) as antimicrobial agents has raised significant concerns among environmental scientists about their environmental behavior, ecological effects, and possible human health risks.To comprehensively understand the current research landscape and developmental trends pertaining to TCS and TCC research in the environmental field, this study analyzed literature data from the Web of Science Core Collection (WOSCC) database from 2002 to 2024 using advanced visualization tools such as Bibliometrix, VOSviewer, and Citespace. The study revealed that China dominates the field of TCS and TCC in environmental research with a publication count significantly higher than other countries, while Brazil and India, as developing nations, also make substantial contributions, ranking among the top 10 in publication output.The journals Science of the Total Environment, Chemosphere, and Environmental Science & Technology featured the highest number of publications on this topic. Keywords co-occurrence and burst anlaysis revealed that contemporary research predominantly concentrates on the environmental behaviour and fate of these compounds, as well as their ecotoxicological impacts and mechanisms. Additionally, there is a focused interest in evaluating human exposure risks and investigating technologies for their degradation and removal. The interaction of these compounds with other environmental pollutants, along with their mechanisms, and the improvement of removal and degradation technologies, are expected to be key focal points in forthcoming research efforts. Based on the comprehensive bibliometric analysis, this study highlights the critical need for environmental policies to address the persistence and bioaccumulation potential of TCS and TCC, urging the development of more effective degradation technologies and strategies to mitigate their environmental and health impacts, which could guide future research and regulatory frameworks.
Keywords: Triclosan, Triclocarban, Toxicity, Scientometric analysis, degradation, environmental risk
Received: 15 Dec 2024; Accepted: 20 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Han, Chen, Ren, Zhang, Shao, Wei and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Qiuhua Wei, Chinese PLA Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China
Zhonghong Li, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Beijing, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.