The emergy evaluation method (EME) is an effective tool to analyze the sustainability of a system because the method links economic and environmental considerations. This study systematically analyzes the latest development and problems of EME based on the joint use of bibliometric and content analysis methods. By quantitatively and visually reviewing 886 emergy-related papers from 1996 to 2018, this study indicates that the EME method has been undergoing a rapid development over the past decades, including a growing number of publications and citations, widespread application in various regions and categories, and higher acceptance rates by mainstream academic journals. EME has been primarily applied to evaluate the sustainability of complex systems, accounting for 86% of the published papers. At the same time, the improvement of the emergy evaluation methodology has been a main concern for emergy-related studies since the 1990s. Specifically, doubts about emergy conservation have been reduced, while the problems of the emergy accounting of negative outputs, co-products, splits, recycling, uncertainty, indicators and integration with other tools have achieved more attention. There have been a few solutions proposed by different authors to deal with the problems, but the ideas and approaches have not been in agreement so far. Therefore, an advanced methodology will be required for the increasing operational level of EME in different fields, including a more standardized accounting framework, improved emergy algebras, and clearer illustrations of the emergy conservation logic. This study contributes to an understanding of the current application of EME by quantitative and visual graphs. Meanwhile, the systematic and classified review of the latest problems and proposed solutions in the EME methodology will provide some specific guidance for future EME research. The improvement of the EME method will make it a readily accessible scientific and operational tool for sustainability management in various fields.

能值评估方法（EME）是分析系统可持续性的有效工具，因为该方法将经济和环境方面的考虑联系在一起。本研究基于文献计量法和内容分析法的结合，系统地分析了新兴市场经济的最新发展和存在的问题。通过对1996年至2018年的886份与能值相关的论文进行定量和视觉审查，该研究表明EME方法在过去数十年中得到了快速发展，包括越来越多的出版物和引文，在各个地区和类别中的广泛应用，主流学术期刊的接受率更高。EME主要用于评估复杂系统的可持续性，占已发表论文的86％。同时，自1990年代以来，能值评估方法的改进一直是与能值相关的研究的主要关注点。具体而言，减少了对节能的怀疑，而对负产出，副产品，分割，回收，不确定性，指标以及与其他工具整合的能值核算问题得到了更多关注。为了解决这些问题，不同的作者提出了一些解决方案，但是到目前为止，想法和方法尚未达成一致。因此，将需要一种先进的方法来提高EME在不同领域的运营水平，包括更标准化的会计框架，改进的能值代数以及能效守恒逻辑的更清晰插图。这项研究有助于通过定量和可视化图表了解EME的当前应用。同时，对EME方法论中的最新问题和建议解决方案进行系统和分类的审查，将为未来EME研究提供一些具体的指导。EME方法的改进将使其成为在各个领域进行可持续性管理的易于使用的科学和操作工具。