<p>Desert regions represent some of the most climatically fragile environments, yet their research landscape in India remains uneven and weakly mapped. This study provides a comprehensive scientometric analysis of a total of 4,439 documents on desert-related scholarship in India using two major global databases&mdash;Scopus (n = 2,653) and Web of Science (WoS) (n = 1,786). The objective is to identify publication trends, thematic concentrations, dominant contributors, and anomalies that reveal critical research gaps and emerging opportunities.</p>

<p>Analysis of WoS data shows that research output peaked as late as 2022, followed by a noticeable decline, indicating fluctuating long-term engagement with desert issues. Climate Action (SDG 13) emerged as the most strongly aligned Sustainable Development Goal, reflecting the increasing relevance of desert studies within climate-change discourse. Publications were most frequently classified under Geosciences Multidisciplinary, suggesting a broad but non-specialised engagement with desert environments. Scopus results similarly reveal oscillating publication activity, with a decline around 2019 and a sharp rise peaking in 2023. Environmental Sciences forms the dominant disciplinary cluster, while the Indian institutions appear as the most prolific institutional contributors.</p>

<p>Keyword co-occurrence networks from both databases highlight the overwhelming dominance of &ldquo;India,&rdquo; &ldquo;desert,&rdquo; &ldquo;Thar Desert,&rdquo; &ldquo;Rajasthan,&rdquo; &ldquo;soil,&rdquo; &ldquo;desert climate,&rdquo; and &ldquo;dust,&rdquo; indicating a strong regional and thematic bias. The prominence of terms such as remote sensing, landforms, aerosol, climate change, and monsoon underscores growing attention to climate and desert interactions.</p>

<p>However, the scarcity of keywords related to socio-economic systems, groundwater dynamics, biodiversity, and cold-desert environments reveals notable research gaps. The study concludes that while India demonstrates strong output in arid-region research, thematic imbalance, regional concentration in the Thar Desert, and fluctuating long-term publication trends signify critical anomalies. Addressing these gaps is essential for strengthening India&rsquo;s desert resilience and aligning future research with broader environmental and developmental priorities. It is the first bibliometric attempt which tends to examine the research field on desert ecosystem in India.</p>