Water, as a main component of the life system, is discussed among researchers every time. Identification of scientific production trends in water availability research enables us to understand better and accept the current status and direction of the research.

The findings illustrated in Figure 2 can be divided into two stages: the 1979-2009 period, which accounts for 6.4% of papers, and the 2010-2024 period, which contributes 93.6% to research activity. An increasing number of publications from 2010 is strongly connected with global climate change, which promotes water scarcity in arid and semi-arid regions of the world. It is possible to include the Central Asian water deficit of 2001 and 2008. The most productive year for water availability research was 2021, when more than 11% of scientific research articles were produced.

An assessment of publication types on water availability was performed to better understand how researchers prefer to publish their results. According to results, 80.2% of articles were distributed as research papers, followed by conference papers 7.4%, book chapters 6%, review articles 4.4% and others 2% Figure 3. The results suggest that lots of scholars favour publishing their results in journals, compared to conference proceedings. This choice is often influenced by a desire to make their research more public and recognized within scientific circles.

The top ten researchers who have produced the most notable publications on this topic, as shown in Figure 4, offer an excellent overview of contributors who have made significant contributions to the literature. Lamers, J.P.A., is the most productive author with a 5.7% share of total publications, followed by Bekchanov, M., and Gafurov, A., with 2.7% and 2.3% shares of total published papers, respectively. Furthermore, the next six influencers on water availability research contributed each 2% to the total number of research articles. Last but not least, Chen Y developed five research papers and contributed 1.6% to the research topic. The role of scholars in water availability research is evident in both advanced and developing states, indicating a global interest in the aforementioned issue.

The role of organizations is valuable for the development of the research area. A total of 160 institutions worldwide participated in water availability research during the 1979-2024 period. As a result of the investigation, the top 10 institutions are shown in Figure 5 with at least 11 publications. The number of articles from selected institutions is 203, with almost 68% of the contributions made to all research papers. Chinese institutions held the leadership position, followed by German research organizations with 6 and 4, respectively. It is worth mentioning that the Chinese Academy of Sciences' contribution is enormous, with 17%. The most active German research organization is Zentrum für Entwicklungsforschung, sharing 7% of water availability research. Chinese institutions' leadership is proven by the greatest interest in water availability in Central Asia research, since the geographical location of countries may negatively affect both economic and social conditions of the country.

Any scientific research activity needs both financial and technical support for publishing. Financial support of research papers is a critical component of scientific knowledge development. Following funding analyses, a total of 159 financial supporters worldwide were identified, with 299 research papers published on water availability during the research period. Figure 6 illustrates the most active funding sponsors, which supported 62% of total publications on water availability. National Natural Science Foundation of China is mentioned as a remarkable supporter, with 18.7% share, followed by Chinese Academy of Sciences and Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, which encouraged 12.3% and 7.7% of total research articles, respectively. In comparison, the contribution of others may vary between 1.7% and 5.7%. Of the ten identified financing donors, four were from China, two were from the European Union and Germany, and one was from Kazakhstan, and one was an internationally recognized organization based in France. Financial support of academic research is a crucial mechanism for scientific progress. In the case of National Natural Science Foundation of China financial support, it must provide original innovation and lead to sustainability. Additionally, it promotes international exchange and collaboration.

Identification of research belonging to a certain area is an essential driver for the development of the field. Figure 7 highlights the top five research fields with the most presented publications on water availability. According to the results, water availability articles are indicated in all subject areas, which exceeds the total number of publications from the database, because an investigation could be catalogued in more than one area. It is noteworthy that Environmental Science leads with 186 articles, followed by Earth and Planetary Science with 119 publications. Additionally, water availability research was included in Agricultural and Biological Sciences, Social Sciences, and Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology, where the total number of published papers equals 97, 54, and 25, respectively.

The number of papers published by journals identifies the efficiency of the source. A total of 148 journals participated in publishing 299 articles on water availability research. Out of 148 journals, 10 were selected for further analysis, each containing at least four articles. The contribution of these journals, shown in Figure 8, is enormous to the research field and accounts for a 28% share of the total published papers. Water Switzerland is the most influential journal in water availability research, with a 6.4% share, followed by Science of the Total Environment with 5% contribution and Agricultural Water Management, which published 3.4% of total articles. At the same time, Environmental Research Letter, IOP Conference Series Earth and Environmental Science, and Journal of Hydrology printed 2.4% of papers each. The next priority is given to Environmental Earth Sciences, which demonstrated a 2.2% share, as well as Cryosphere, Plos One, and Sustainability Switzerland, which have only 1.3%.

Academic papers based on a country's publications are an effective tool to evaluate scientific research potential. To analyze countries' impact on water availability, the Mapchart online platform was applied to assess the most active states on the above-mentioned issue, which is illustrated in Figure 9. A total of 45 countries participated between 1979 and 2024 to investigate water availability issues. Germany leads other countries with 102 published papers, followed by China and Kazakhstan, which have 84 and 43 research articles on water availability, respectively. Germany’s leadership in water availability research in Central Asia is vindicated by international development programs supported by German Technical Cooperation, which establishes projects promoting water-efficient use due to its shortage in the region. There is a significant research interest in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan regarding water availability issues, given their location in Central Asia. The total number of analyzed papers outperforms the 299 research articles received from the Scopus database, as the researchers’ geographical locations could be identified in more than one area. As a result of countries' contributions, it is possible to present that the water availability challenge deserves attention from both advanced and developing states.

Citation analyses provide a unique opportunity to evaluate the most frequently referenced papers on the subject of water availability. Additionally, it is an effective tool for analyzing the fundamental logical framework for a research topic. 272 papers received a total of 11303 citations during the research period. Table 1 visually illustrates the top 10 most cited publications, including titles, years, journals, number of citations, publishers, and types of articles. According to the results, the 10 selected articles accounted for 35% of the total citations. Additionally, the shortlist included two reviews and eight research papers. “Sensitivity of global terrestrial ecosystems to climate variability,” published by Nature, holds the top position with 966 citations. The most cited papers, spanning the 1997-2022 period, demonstrate the topic's relevance over the last 25 years.

The frequency of keyword co-occurrence is a commonly regarded trustworthy metric for strengthening the link and relationship between publications. To determine the authors’ area of focus, we must first visualize the network produced by the co-occurrence of authors' keywords. A total of 2937 keywords from 299 publications participated in the research. Figure 10 indicates the most applied keywords with a minimum of five appearances of a term. The final network consists of 203 nodes and 5 clusters. During the research period, the most often used keywords were water availability (154 times), climate change (106 times), Central Asia (104 times), water supply (71 times), and water management (63 times). This data visualization highlights the most significant and often recurring terms in water availability research, allowing for a better understanding of connections and trends.

International collaboration is a key component of current research activity, allowing the interchange of information and skills. Figure 11 demonstrates cooperation among the states included in this investigation via a bibliometric map created by Vos viewer. A significant scientific partnership can be discovered, shown in six categories displayed through various shades. Germany holds the top position with 137 collaborations, followed by China and the United States, which have 74 and 63 collaborations, respectively. Also, they lead in terms of overall citations by country with 4834, 4081, and 2922 citations, respectively. It is essential to recognize the contributions of developing states, such as Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, to collaboration in water availability research.

Climate change is imperiling the hydrological cycle in the world, causing floods, droughts, over-exploitation of water resources, pollution, and ecosystem degradation, where over two billion people live in areas with high water stress (Hydrological Processes and Water Security in a Changing World, 2020). According to (Yao et al., 2021) Climate change poses a significant threat to Central Asia's water cycle. Currently, water resources in Central Asian countries face challenges due to climate impacts, which negatively influence the amount of mountain glaciers in the Tian Shan and Pamir Mountain systems, as demonstrated by(Li et al., 2017). (Xu et al., 2019) suppose that glacier meltwater is a major source of water for populations and hydro-economies in semi-arid and arid regions including Central Asia. In the past few years, climate change has had a substantial influence on precipitation levels in Central Asia, resulting in a decrease in surface water formation (Zhang et al., 2021). According to (Zhang et al., 2021) , there has been considerable warming at a rate of 0.34 ◦C/decade over the last 50 years in the Central Asian mountains, which is three times faster than the global average. Field experiments provided by (Zhang et al., 2022) prove that summertime droughts result from winters with low snowfall in this region, which focuses on a quick analysis of the influence of cryospheric variations on the availability of water. Additionally, (Zonn et al., 2020) promoted the idea that water scarcity had become an important issue in many Central Asian states. (Zhang et al., 2020) stated that only 24.4% of water resources in Central Asia are possible to use by humans, where numerous transnational streams negatively impact this amount of water.

In dry regions, including Central Asia, water is essential for controlling biological processes (Xu et al., 2011). The sustainable management of water must be a major policy in the aforementioned region, given that scarcity has dominated for the last two decades. The water scarcity problem in Central Asia resulted from both the Aral Sea's shrinking and environmental changes, requiring effective integrated management of surface and groundwater systems, which must be done immediately (Zhai et al., 2022). Water resources are used for both hydropower generation in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and irrigation purposes in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan, which is called upstream and downstream demands in Central Asia, respectively (Zeng et al., 2017). Water consumption for agriculture and energy generation has become a source of disagreement between downstream and upstream nations in Central Asia (Zakeri et al., 2022). Effective water management and supply are provided if upstream requests are met by supplying necessary electricity to Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan during the winter period, while these countries cover the summer irrigation demands of downstream locations. Additionally, one of the most appropriate solutions for water scarcity in the downstream is the practice of building water reservoirs and dams. (Zhupankhan et al., 2018) mentioned Kazakhstan as the first Central Asian country that created essential conditions for implementing integrated water resource management (IWRM). It promotes sustainable local collaboration on water management in Central Asia, including the construction of regulatory water management rules according to globally orientated water law. Based on the results of this research, water availability in Central Asia is becoming an insurmountable challenge, destroying both political and geographical balance in the region. Satisfaction of demands for electricity and agriculture in the region is liable to enlarge the debate, which requires revision of both international and local laws. One of the most appropriate solutions to this challenge is sustainable exploitation of water resources, which requires smart agriculture with drip irrigation and energy production by alternative sources. Strong collaboration among states in Central Asia, including cooperation and mutual understanding, is considered an alternative solution to the problem.