Bibliometric Evidence on the Trend and Future Direction of the Research on Textile Coloration with Natural Sources

Synthetic dyes used for the coloration of textile goods are not readily biodegradable and are a major concern for water pollution. Nature has abundant sources of potential colorants for textile applications. There are many challenges in textile coloration using natural dyes and pigments, and significant research efforts are currently put into replacing synthetic textile dyes successfully. In order to gain insight into the future trajectory of dyeing research utilizing natural colorants, a bibliometric analysis from 1990 to 2021 using the Science Citation Index Expanded database was conducted. The analysis focused on how well the publication performed in terms of outputs and citations annually, mainstream journals, Web of Science categories, top universities, top nations, research trends, and hotspots. An overview of the most frequently used keywords derived from terms in the article title analysis, authors’ keyword analysis, and KeyWords Plus analysis served as the foundation for determining current research goals and future trends. The findings indicated that no noteworthy research on this topic was conducted in the final decade of the previous century but that it did begin to get the attention of scholars in the first decade of this century. The use of natural dyes in industry has significantly expanded during the past ten years. “Fastness” is the interest point that has received the most attention. Mordants, or environmentally friendly extraction techniques such as ultrasonic, gamma irradiation, etc., represent the future of this research area. On the other hand, ultraviolet protection and antibacterial or antimicrobial properties are becoming more and more popular in the field of textile dyeing research using natural colorants.