Navigating Life In The Extremes: A Bibliometric Exploration Of Extremophiles And Astrobiology

Bibliometric analysis reveals significant research trends and highlights collaborations among institutions and countries within extremophiles and astrobiology.

A bibliometric analysis of 309 papers reveals key research trends and collaborations in extremophiles and astrobiology in this research and provides a strategic overview of scientific interest, identifying research gaps and guiding future exploration of life adaptability and extraterrestrial biosignatures.

Thus, analysis has systematically assessed trends, research collaborations and emerging topics guiding future research on the adaptability of life and the search for extraterrestrial biosignatures.

According to trends, omics technologies, particularly genomics and multi-omics approaches, are emerging as pivotal tools for understanding the genetic and metabolic adaptations that enable extremophiles to thrive in harsh conditions.

Also, multi-omics approaches will provide a better understanding of the genetic and metabolic adaptations that allow extremophiles to survive in harsh environments, such as extreme temperatures, high salinity, or acidic and alkaline conditions. These insights deepen our understanding of extremophile biology and support the identification of molecular biosignatures indicative of extraterrestrial life.

Figure 2b shows these relations on the world map and it provides a broad range of web observation. In this figure, some countries are colored in dark blue and some in light blue. This coloring indicates the intensity of cooperation and the leadership of a country in the field. In addition, the links between countries are shown with red lines and the length and thickness of the lines provide information about the strength of cooperation. The USA is shown in the darkest color, which means that it has the highest level of cooperation on the map. The USA has established links with many countries. This shows that the US plays a leading role in research projects and has extensive cooperation with different countries. Indeed, the USA has taken a pioneering role in the field of astrobiology and is recognized as the founding country of this field. By establishing the Astrobiology Institute in the late 1990s, NASA, especially, Ames Research Center increased interest in this field and directed research (Blumberg, Reference Blumberg2003; Race et al., Reference Race, Denning, Bertka, Dick, Harrison, Impey and Mancinelli2012). This leadership has placed the USA at the center of many international cooperation networks in the field of astrobiology and has enabled strong links to be established with other countries. This map clearly reflects the founding role of the USA in this field and its central position in global cooperation. There is a close network of cooperation within the European continent, especially among the countries of Western Europe. There are clear links between countries such as Germany, the UK, France, Italy and the Netherlands. This shows that European countries are tightly networked in their research projects and that cooperation takes place mostly at the regional level. On the map, South American and Asian countries are also linked to the USA and some European countries. For example, countries such as Brazil, India and China also contribute to research.

Astrobiology,