Visual analysis of green shipping knowledge graph based on CiteSpace

Green shipping has been recognized as the main trend in the past several decades. A total number of 240 research articles associated with green shipping have been retrieved from databases of CNKI core journals and CSSCI over the time span of 2002–2020. Knowledge graphs are thus obtained through CiteSpace, based on which the general research achievements in China are summarized. The results show that the trend of green shipping research could be divided into three stages, named as slow start, rapid rise and stable development. Research highlights differ during these stages, among which Yangtze river economic belt, emission control area and green shipping have been noted as three major issues. The comprehensiveness of green shipping research is becoming even more prominent. Visual analysis of knowledge graphs (e.g. co-citation networks, path finder and time zone) indicates that the basic theoretical research and key technology applications should be strengthened by means of interdisciplinary integration. It is believed that the green shipping would provide strong support for the future development of comprehensive transportation system in China.