Agriculture and the Utilisation of Information and Communication Technology: A Bibliometric Review
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17748653Keywords:
Agriculture, Bibliography Analysis, ICT, Smallholder Farming, VOS viewerAbstract
Food security, rural development, and sustainable agriculture are global issues that have been revolutionized by the application of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in agriculture. To map the research trends, major contributors, and thematic pathways of ICT-based agricultural research, a thorough bibliometric analysis is conducted in this study. After data refinement, 234 papers were selected for analysis out of the 746 papers that were initially retrieved from the Scopus database. Using tools like VOSviewer, the method integrates science mapping techniques like co-citation, bibliographic coupling, and keyword co-occurrence with performance analysis. According to the findings, there has been a significant increase in the number of publications since 2016, indicating a growing interest in precision technologies, smart farming, and digital agriculture worldwide. Prominent themes identified by keyword cluster analysis include information sharing, mobile advisory services, smallholder farming, rural development, and AI-based agricultural solutions. The global nature of ICT-agriculture research is reflected in the strong research contributions and collaborative networks that come from the US, China, India, as well as some European and African countries, according to country-by-country data. Principal sources of influential work in this field include highly cited publications like Computers and Electronics in Agriculture and Sustainability. The analysis also reflects interdisciplinary links between development policy, computer science, environmental studies, and agricultural sciences. It highlights the growing importance of technology in enhancing agricultural sustainability, efficiency, and productivity. The findings support continued policy efforts, digital infrastructure spending, and building ICT-using capacity for equitable and sustainable agricultural growth.
References
Al-Fuqaha, A., Guizani, M., Mohammadi, M., Aledhari, M., & Ayyash, M. (2015). Internet of things: A survey on enabling technologies, protocols, and applications. IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, 17(4), 2347–2376. https://doi.org/10.1109/COMST.2015.2444095
Altarturi, H. H. M., Nor, A. R. M., Jaafar, N. I., et al. (2025). A bibliometric and content analysis of technological advancement applications in agricultural e-commerce. Electronic Commerce Research, 25, 805–848. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10660-023-09670-z
Ayim, C., Kassahun, A., Addison, C., & Tekinerdogan, B. (2022). Adoption of ICT innovations in the agriculture sector in Africa: A review of the literature. Agriculture & Food Security, 11(1), 22. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40066-022-00364-7
Baker, H. K., Pandey, N., Kumar, S., & Haldar, A. (2020). A bibliometric analysis of board diversity: Current status, development, and future research directions. Journal of Business Research, 108, 232–246. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.11.025
Birke, F. M., & Knierim, A. (2020). ICT for agriculture extension: Actor network theory for understanding the establishment of agricultural knowledge centers in South Wollo, Ethiopia. Information Technology for Development, 26(3), 591–606. https://doi.org/10.1080/02681102.2020.1727826
Cerdeira, J., Mesquita, J., & Vieira, E. S. (2023). International research collaboration: is Africa different? A cross-country panel data analysis. Scientometrics, 128(4), 2145-2174. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-023-04659-9
Donthu, N., Kumar, S., Mukherjee, D., Pandey, N., & Lim, W. M. (2021). How to conduct a bibliometric analysis: An overview and guidelines. Journal of Business Research, 133, 285–296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.04.070
Ellili, N. O. D. (2024). Bibliometric analysis of sustainability papers: Evidence from Environment, Development and sustainability. Environment, development and sustainability, 26(4), 8183-8209. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-023-03067-6
Friha, O., Ferrag, M. A., Shu, L., Maglaras, L., & Wang, X. (2021). Internet of things for the future of smart agriculture: A comprehensive survey of emerging technologies. IEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica, 8(4), 718–752. https://doi.org/10.1109/JAS.2021.1003925
González-Torres, T., Rodríguez-Sánchez, J. L., Montero-Navarro, A., & Gallego-Losada, R. (2020). Visualizing research on industrial clusters and global value chains: a bibliometric analysis. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 1754. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01754.
Goyal, N. (2021). Limited demand or unreliable supply? A bibliometric review and computational text analysis of research on energy policy in India. Sustainability, 13(23), 13421. https://doi.org/10.3390/su132313421
Herrera-Calderon, O., Yuli-Posadas, R. Á., Peña-Rojas, G., Andía-Ayme, V., Hañari-Quispe, R. D., & Gregorio-Chaviano, O. (2021). A bibliometric analysis of the scientific production related to “zero hunger” as a sustainable development goal: trends of the pacific alliance towards 2030. Agriculture & Food Security, 10(1), 34. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40066-021-00315-8.
Khanna, A., & Kaur, S. (2019). Evolution of Internet of Things (IoT) and its significant impact in the field of Precision Agriculture. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 157, 218–231. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2018.12.039
Kitajima, K., & Okamura, K. (2023). Evolving landscape of US-China science collaboration: Convergence and divergence. arXiv preprint arXiv:2309.05033. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2309.05033
Kumar, A., Mallick, S., & Swarnakar, P. (2020). Mapping scientific collaboration: a bibliometric study of rice crop research in India. Journal of Scientometric Research. https://doi.org/10.5530/jscires.9.1.4
Kumar, N., Acharya, A., Gendelman, H. E., & Byrareddy, S. N. (2022). The 2022 outbreak and the pathobiology of the monkeypox virus. Journal of Autoimmunity, 131, 102855. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaut.2022.102855
López-López, W., Lucio-Arias, D., Díaz-Nova, A. M., & Silva, L. M. (2023). International collaboration in Latin American psychology through the analysis of co-authorship networks. Trends in Psychology, 31(3), 503-519. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43076-023-00266-y
Mardiani, E., & Iswahyudi, M. S. (2023). Mapping the landscape of artificial intelligence research: a bibliometric approach. West Science Interdisciplinary Studies, 1(08), 587-599.
Nazarovets, S., & Mryglod, O. (2025). Ukrainian arts and humanities research in Scopus: A bibliometric analysis. Library Hi Tech, 43(1), 156–179. https://doi.org/10.1108/LHT-05-2023-0180
Novikov, V. (2021). Bibliometric analysis of economic, social and information security research. SocioEconomic Challenges, 5(2), 120–128. https://doi.org/10.21272/sec.5(2).120-128.2021
Okamura, K. (2023). A half-century of global collaboration in science and the “shrinking world”. Quantitative Science Studies, 4(4), 938-959. https://doi.org/10.1162/qss_a_00268.
Oladele, O. I. (2015). Effect of information communication technology (ICT) on agricultural information access among extension officers in North West Province South Africa. South African Journal of Agricultural Extension, 43(2), 30–41. https://doi.org/10.17159/2413-3221/2015/v43n2a344
Paudel, B., Riaz, S., Teng, S. W., Kolluri, R. R., & Sandhu, H. (2025). The digital future of farming: a bibliometric analysis of big data in smart farming research. Cleaner and Circular Bioeconomy, 10, 100132. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clcb.2024.100132
Pradhan, S. K., Prusty, A. K., Das, S., Ghosh, M., Chandra, Y. B., & Nayak, S. (2025). Empowering small-scale agriculture: Effective strategies for technology transfer. International Journal of Advance Biochemistry Research, 9(3), 118–125. https://doi.org/10.33545/26174693.2025.v9.i3b.3902
Pradhan, S. K., Prusty, A. K., Priyadarshi, D., Badavath, A., Nayak, S., Munda, S. C., & Sudham, V. (2024). Impact of disruptive technologies on transforming Indian agriculture. International Journal of Agriculture Extension and Social Development, 7(5), 34–41. https://doi.org/10.33545/26180723.2024.v7.i5a.597
Prusty, A. K., Mohapatra, B. P., Rout, S., & Padhy, C. (2021). Mobile applications in agriculture. PLANTA, 2, 240–244.
Prusty, A. K., Saha, P., Das, N., & Suman, S. (2025). Implementation and adoption of smart technologies in agri-allied sectors. Plant Science Today, 11, Article 3467. https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.3467
Robledo-Giraldo, S., Figueroa-Camargo, J. G., Zuluaga-Rojas, M. V., Vélez-Escobar, S. B., & Hurtado, P. L. D. (2023). Mapping, evolution, and application trends in co-citation analysis: a scientometric approach. Revista de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación, 13(1), 201-214.
Saha, P., Prusty, A. K., & Nanda, C. (2024). Extension strategies for bridging gender digital divide. Journal of Applied Biology and Biotechnology, 12(4), 76–80. https://doi.org/10.7324/JABB.2024.159452
Saha, P., Prusty, A. K., Nanda, C., Ray, S., Rout, D. S., & Sahoo, B. (2025, January 26). Professionalism of women agricultural extension personnel in Odisha. The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension. https://doi.org/10.1080/1389224X.2025.2559599
Saini, S., Burman, R. R., Padaria, R. N., Mahra, G. S., Bishnoi, S., Aditya, K., ... & Padhan, S. R. (2023). Mapping the research trends of migration behavior in agricultural households: A bibliometric analysis. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 7, 1241716. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2023.1241716
Sharma, R. (2021, May). Artificial intelligence in agriculture: A review. In 2021 5th International Conference on Intelligent Computing and Control Systems (ICICCS) (pp. 937–942). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICICCS51141.2021.9432187
Suman, S., Deb, A., Prusty, A. K., Sameer, S., Divya, B. S., & Saha, S. (2024, June 1). Utilizing blockchain, IoT and machine learning for transparent agri-extension and resource distribution: A review. In 2024 2nd International Conference on Signal Processing, Communication, Power and Embedded Systems (SCOPES) (pp. 1–6). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/SCOPES64467.2024.10991113
Suman, S., Prusty, A. K., Deb, A., Kumari, A., & Reddy, G. S. (2025). Global research trends in family farming: A bibliometric insight. Indian Journal of Extension Education, 61(1), 25–31. https://doi.org/10.48165/IJEE.2025.61105
Suman, S., Prusty, A. K., Deb, A., Kumari, A., & Reddy, I. C. (2025). Global research trends in family farming: A bibliometric insight. Indian Journal of Extension Education, 61(1), 25–31. https://doi.org/10.48165/IJEE.2025.61105
Taherdoost, H. (2021). Data collection methods and tools for research: A step-by-step guide to choose data collection technique for academic and business research projects. International Journal of Academic Research in Management (IJARM), 10(1), 10–38.
Thavorn, J., Muangsin, V., Gowanit, C., & Muangsin, N. (2022). Research on Shelf‐Life Extension Technologies for Food Sustainability: An Assessment of Scientific Activities and Networks. The Scientific World Journal, 2022(1), 7120662. https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/7120662
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Sai Kumar Periginji, Vaishnavi Pulletikurthi, Sutej Raghavendra Kulkarni, Samik Kumar Pradhan, Malireddy Sujohn
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
