This study explore the scientometric assessment of tardigrades research publications from 2004–2024 based on data from the Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) databases and used a systematic approach to assess outputs, citation counts and annual increments for the two-decade period. The analysis shows that there is an upward trajectory over the years in the number of publication outputs, with scopus peaking at 95 publications in 2019, and WoS peaking with 101 publications in 2024. Citation metrics suggest an increasing scientific visibility, with 3,129 Scopus and 3,184 WoS peak citations in 2020, having more than doubled in the last 10 years, most likely reflecting the growing interest in tardigrades as a subject of research. The Publication Efficiency Index (PEI) was different in the two databases Scopus had a maximum PEI of 41.18 in 2017 and WoS a maximum PEI of 34.51 in 2021, and find a very high growth rate in the number of publications in the first years between 2008 to 2012, this growth slowed down over time until it seems to have been re-energized between 2018 to 2024, as discussed in the Annual Growth Rate (AGR) and Doubling Time (DT) analyses. Key contributors to tardigrades research include prominent authors such as Kaczmarek, L., and Michalczyk, L., with substantial publication counts. The top journals, Zootaxa especially, appear to be able to proffer a firm stage for research. Both databases listed United States and Poland as major contributing countries. The study, the research areas connected to tardigrades range from zoology to environmental sciences to agricultural biology.These findings emphasize the importance of further studies on tardigrades, especially in ecological, genomic and applied contexts, to comprehend their ecological roles and adaptations.
