[Objective] The Loess Plateau is a great geographical unit of China

which has important strategic significance for national food security and ecological security. Through long-term slope management

comprehensive watershed management

afforestation and other measures

the ecological environment of the Loess Plateau has been significantly improved

but it still faces challenges in such aspects as insufficient rationality of vegetation restoration in local areas

uncoordinated overall planning of the whole basin

and balanced economic development and ecological protection. Under the guidance of the national dual-carbon goal

the future direction and goal of the Loess Plateau ecosystem and agricultural sustainable development should be to support the realization of carbon neutrality

establish an environmentally suitable vegetation community

promote the development of the ecosystem as a whole

and realize the green transformation of the development mode. [Methods] Based on the bibliometrics tool CiteSpace

this paper visually analyzes the relevant literatures on the principle and application of soil regulation in the Loess Plateau published from 1992 to 2023

focusing on the core research strength

research hotspot and research trend in this research field. [Results] (1) From the perspective of the evolution of the number of published papers

the overall trend is rising

and the growth rate is explosive after 2001; (2) From the perspective of publishing institutions

Northwest A&F University has the highest number of publishing institutions in this field

with 2 157; (3) From the perspective of the cooperative relationship between authors

Academician SHAO Mingan and Professor LIU Guobin are the core leaders in this field

and the number of published papers is 141 and 117 respectively. The cooperative network formed by them has been very mature; (4) From the perspective of research hotspots and development trends in this field

the main research hotspots focus on soil moisture

yield

dryland

soil erosion

soil nutrients and vegetation restoration

etc. The future micro theme trend will focus on yield

slope position and nitrogen application amount

while the future macro trend will explore a new model of the coupling and coordinated development of eco-economic-social system. [Conclusion] Based on the results of visual analysis

three perspectives on the principles and application of soil regulation in the Loess Plateau were proposed

including cooperative research

research hotspots and future key development directions.