Evolving research on groundwater governance and collective action for water security : a global bibliometric analysis

Groundwater is a significant source of freshwater supply globally. State-mandated groundwater regulatory frameworks are often pervasive and have failed to reap tangible outcomes. The participatory approach of groundwater governance has surfaced to understand human-groundwater relations through collective action going beyond the techno-managerial paradigm. Hence, the study is carried out to provide a comprehensive and systematic review of the evolution and trends of research in groundwater governance and collective action deploying bibliometric analysis to understand the political economy of groundwater. A total of 356 scholarly peer-reviewed and grey literature published from 2000 to 2022 was compiled. A substantial increase in publications after 2013 was observed. USA and India lead in publication contributions in terms of geographical distribution. Three peer-reviewed journals were prominent publishing outlets: Hydrogeology, Water, and Water Alternatives. The analysis of 814 keywords co-occurrence shows that “groundwater,” "governance," and “collective action” were the most extensively used keywords. The emerging themes observed are governance and institutions, cooperative management, and policy. Our findings signify that cooperative management or collective action will be prioritised to understand human-groundwater relations by making the invisible resource visible integrating socio-cultural perspectives.