Drivers in the fisheries domain: A bibliometric and text mining analysis.

ABSTRACT

Fisheries have garnered attention from researchers throughout the last several decades. This sector's contribution has been recognised globally, leading to exponential growth in the number of research studies published in this area. Among all the dimensions from which this field has been explored, a critical theme under focus has been the drivers in the fisheries domain. Therefore, this study aims to provide a wholesome view of such studies that have explored drivers in the context of fisheries using bibliometric analysis and text-mining tools. Based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) approach, 322 studies on the theme were extracted from the Scopus and Web of Science databases. The studies extracted were analysed using VOSviewer and Orange software. The analysis uncovered the top journals and publishers in this domain and revealed the hidden patterns in the existing literature. The researchers posit that rather than judging the growth solely based on the number of citations and publications over the period, focus should be concentrated towards identifying themes that have gained immense attention from researchers over the years. The results indicate a shifting trend in recent times, centered on topics related to sustainability and climate change, among many more. The findings have important implications for researchers to make valuable contributions in this domain.