The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) is one of the most studied environmental legislations and recently turned twenty. The paper deals with a literature search and analysis of 4120 references related to this Directive. After a period of strong increase in article production (2002-2012) WFD scientific productivity is currently still high (~ 260 papers year-1), suggesting a persistent interest of the scientific community on this issue. Most research supporting the WFD was on water sciences, but contributions were also from governance and socio-economic disciplines. Studies on biological quality elements and rivers were prominent. The WFD implementation has seen a strong participation of scientists from all EU countries, and partially also from outside-EU nations. To improve the EU water policy and management, the paper suggests a greater interconnection between WFD and other EU Directives and indicates some emerging environmental issues to which the Directive should address.
Keywords: Bibliometric-review analysis; Ecological status; WFD impact; WFD implementation; WFD objectives; Water Framework Directive.
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