Background As an important soil and water conservation engineering measure to prevent and control soil erosion in the Loess Plateau, check-dams have great social, economic and ecological benefits, which have attracted much attention of researchers. However, few researchers have elaborated on the research progress of check-dam in China from the perspective of scientific literature. In order to clarify the current research situation of check-dams in China, we analyzed and summarized its research topics and the evolution of its phased frontier.

Methods Considering that there are some alternative names related to check-dam in Chinese, the retrieval formula was determined as (TI or KY = 'check-dam' or 'juqiu' or 'dam land' or 'slurry-fall dam' or 'gully dam system' or 'small watershed dam system' or 'key dam'). We chose CNKI, the largest Chinese literature database, as the retrieval source. After retrieving and clearing data, we excluded repetitive and low-correlation papers. Meanwhile, we retrieved Web of Science and Scopus and other databases, and the retrieval results were less than 100 papers. And we found that most of the papers did not deviate from research topics in China, thus we did not count those retrieval results. At last, 2 158 papers related to check-dam from 1954 to 2019 were studied and analyzed by CiteSpace, VOSviewer and other tools. In addition, we cited 21 necessary references, and they explain the background and knowledge of check-dams in China.

Results 1) Along with the changes of times, the degree of attention and characteristics of the research on the check-dam are changing.The amount of research papers on check-dam varies greatly in different periods, reaching its peak in 2003 and tending to be stable in recent years. 2) Research institutions in this field have distinct regional characteristics. The top 20 high-yield institutions are basically distributed in Shaanxi province, Shanxi province, and Gansu province. On the other hand, the degree of cooperation between research institutions is low. There is still much room for mutual cooperations between institutions. 3) The research on check-dam can be roughly divided into three aspects: construction of check-dam, comprehensive management of dam systems in small watersheds, and management of check-dam. The research frontier also has great changes in different periods. 4) In the future, the research may focus on the further optimization of dam layout, the relationship between various levels, the exploration of new construction technology and the risk control of dams.

Conculsions Through summarizing and analyzing research progress and research hot topics on check-dam in China, it is conducive to researchs to comprehensively understand research history and present situation of check-dam in China.The layout of dam system and its impact still need continuous attention, and the application of new technology, dam system safety and risk control may be the focus of attention in the future. Strengthening the research in these aspects is conducive to the further development of check-dam.