Bibliometrics-based Evaluation of International Scientific Research Impact of China’s Lunar Exploration Program

As human exploration of the Moon continues to advance, the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program (later referred to as the Chang’E Project) has emerged as a key component of China’s deep space exploration strategy, garnering widespread attention within the international academic community and driving the development of China’s lunar science research community. Since the launch of the Chang’E Project in 2004, related research has yielded a series of remarkable achievements. These findings have provided new evidence for understanding the formation and evolutionary history of the moon, while also laying the groundwork and accumulating experience for future deep space exploration activities. Based on the Web of Science Core Collection Database, this study uses bibliometric methods to systematically analyze the scientific output of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program (2003－2024). By quantitatively evaluating the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics, international cooperation dynamics, and academic influence of 1023 SCI papers, the study reveals the contribution of Chinese Lunar Exploration Program to the global lunar scientific research. The study shows that: the implementation of Chinese Lunar Exploration Program has increased China’s share of publications in the field of lunar science to 32.6% (2024), and the CNCI value of the project’s output papers (1.03) exceeds the global average; scientific breakthroughs are concentrated in the Chang’E-4 (lunar backside landing and roving exploration) and Chang’E-5 (lunar sample analysis) missions, and the project outputs 181 high-impact papers; the proportion of international citations from non-Chinese institutions has increased significantly, indicating that the engineering results have gained wide international recognition. This study provides quantitative evidence for evaluating the scientific benefits of China’s deep space exploration program, and will also serve as an important reference for China’s future deep space exploration strategic planning and planetary science development.