Based on the Web of Science core collection database, this paper retrieves 349 research papers on terraced fields published during 1991-2020. Keyword co-occurrence analysis, cluster analysis, and thematic evolutionary analysis were used to identify the evolutionary path of terrace research. The findings were as follows: (1) In the past 20 years, the study of terraced fields has shown an upward trend. The number of annual published papers during 2012-2020 was much more than that during 1991-2011, but papers during 1991-2011 were more academically influential than those during 2012-2020. (2) Regional analysis showed that terrace research in China is the most abundant currently, and is mainly focused on agricultural production, agricultural engineering, cultural tourism, and ecological environment. (3) Keyword co-occurrence analysis showed that terrace landscape, terrace agriculture, terrace abandonment, land use change, soil and water conservation, and sustainable utilization of typical terraces are the main modules of current terrace studies. (4) In a temporal dynamic perspective, terrace research presented 10 main evolutionary paths during 1991-2020, reflecting the trend of terrace research towards sustainable terrace development of ecological agriculture and ecosystem service. (5) Finally, this paper suggests that here is a need to deepen studies on terrace ecosystem services and human well-being based on their structure and processes, to analyze the interaction and comprehensive effect of natural process and humanistic driving forces on terrace abandonment, and to explore the multi-functional benefits and sustainable management of high quality terraced landscape.
Keywords: agricultural terraces; bibliometrics; co-word analysis; land use; thematic evolution.