NEW PROGRESS AND PROSPECT OF COAL GEOLOGY—BASED ON ANALYSIS OF PAPERS PUBLISHED IN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF COAL GEOLOGY FROM 2016 TO 2020

Coal geology is a subject that applies the theories and methods of geology and geochemistry to study the material composition,genesis,physical and chemical properties,spatial distribution of coal seam,coal measure,and its associated mineral resources. In the background of the ecological civilization and green development advocating by China and achievement carbon peak before 2030,the research focus of coal geology is changing gradually. Based on the statistical analysis of the articles published in the Journal of International Journal of Coal Geology from 2016 to 2020,the development process of Coal Geology in China is expressed in this paper. The current research hotspots of the Coal Geology is discussed,and the possible development direction of Coal Geology in the future is put forward. The results show that the most paper is published by Chinese scholars,accounting for 27.4%,followed by the United States and Australia. According to the first author's organization,the China University of Mining and Technology(Beijing),the University of Queensland,and the China University of Geosciences(Beijing) are the three institutions of highest numbers of papers. According to the research content,coal petrology and organic geochemistry have the largest number of papers,accounting for 31.3%.They are the research hotspots in the past five years. They are followed by minerals,trace elements,and geochemistry of coal and coal measure gas. It is predicted that there will be more and more researches on coal clean utilization in the future,and the cross subjects related to coal geology will also develop rapidly.