Fig. 3

Mann-Kendall trend tests for publications A and citations B the UF curve represents the trend of change while the UB curve is its inverse series. A positive UF value indicates an increasing trend, whereas an inverse trend denotes a decreasing trend. The significance level was defined as 0.01 with a value of ±2.56. A UF value greater than 2.56 suggests a considerable upward trend, and roughly vice versa similarly. The intersection point within the confidence interval (±2.56) was taken as the mutation point