Karst desertification (KD) is a phenomenon in which the surface of the karst region presents a landscape similar to desertification, which restricts the social development of the karst region. How to develop values based on karst desertification control is the focus of current research, with the continuous promotion of karst desertification control (KDC). Planted forests for KDC are an important part of the value realization of ecological products (EPs) and ecological industry (EI) in karst areas. The statistical analysis of 265 relevant papers in this paper shows the following: (1) the literature focuses on EP and EI research; (2) the overall research shows a year-on-year growth trend. It includes three stages: budding (2001–2006), fluctuating growth (2007–2015) and rapid development (2016–2023), with 6, 58 and 211 articles published in each stage, respectively; (3) China is the country with the largest number of articles published, followed by the United States and then Canada, accounting for 47.74%, 11.93% and 6.17%. This paper summarizes the landmark results and key scientific issues to be solved in the study directions of EP supply capacity, EP value accounting, eco-products value realization (EPVR) and EI, taking into account the above results.

The research on forest ecological product (eco-product) value realization and ecological industry(eco-industry) has become a current hotspot. In order to facilitate scholars’ understanding of the progress of existing research, this paper, based on 286 retrieved documents, statistically analyzes the research content, regional distribution, etc. And the following understandings were obtained: (1) The current volume of publications as a whole shows a trend of steady increase year by year, and China is the country with the largest volume of publications, accounting for more than half. (2) The research content mainly focuses on four aspects: supply capacity assessment, value accounting, value realization mechanism and eco-industry of eco-products. (3) It puts forward the problems of insufficient supply and slow development of industry at the present stage, deepens the deficiencies of the existing research and analyzes its inspiration for the future development of mountain forestation areas in rocky desertification control. Aims at providing forest practitioners and relevant decision makers with information for managing and regulating the supply capacity of forest eco-products and eco-industries. At the same time, it also provides ecological restoration technicians with a path to think about optimizing forest ecosystems for rocky desertification control.