A bibliometric analysis of research trends on life cycle assessment

The aim of this paper is to assess the trends of research development and to investigate different aspects of studies on LCA via bibliometric analysis. This provides useful information about the research trends in the past and at present and is also effective in predicting the research evolution. Also, coupled with visualization using VOSviewer software, a representation of the relationship between countries, journals, authors, keywords are provided for readers analyzing the articles conducted on LCA fulfilling a minimum value of citation during the ۲۱st century (۲۰۰۰-۲۰۱۹). The required data have been derived from Scopus database. According to the results, ۱۶۶۹ top-cited papers were identified, published in ۱۶۰ journals, among which The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, Journal of Cleaner Production and, Environmental Science and Technology are three higher output journals. The three most contributing countries to this area of research are USA, UK and Spain. Out of ۴۱۵۵ authors, Gumersindo, Feijoo, Maria, Teresa, Moreira and Thomas H, Christensen are the top three authors of the papers associated with LCA. The keywords of co-occurrence network have been categorized into four clusters of studies related to "renewable energy with a concentration on biofuels ", "global warming& air pollution", "food industry", and "waste management methods" suggesting the primary areas of interest in LCA. Also, performing a keywords analysis revealed new topics that have been considered more recently, which can be potentially hot topics in future, have been unveiled. These outcomes would be a beneficial reference for current researchers to determine the main branches of their research on LCA.

Keywords:

life cycle assessment , Scopus , VOSviewer , clustering , visual analysis