Analyzing the global landscape of research related to the territorial approach in rural areas with Bibliometric approach

Articles in Press

Document Type : scientific-research article

Authors

leila nazari ¹

Hamid Shayan ²

Hamdollah sojasi gheidari ³

ali akbar Najafi kani ⁴

¹ PhD student in eography & Rural Planning, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad

² *

³ Associate Professor of Geography and Rural Planning, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad

⁴ Associate Professor, Geography Department, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Mazandaran

https://doi.org/10.22067/jgrd.2025.94925.1587

Abstract

Evidence shows that costly rural development programs have failed to reduce poverty and inequality; therefore, the territorial approach has been proposed as a new and alternative discourse. Therefore, the aim of the research is to analyze the Bibliometric Analysis of scientific production related to this approach at the international level during the years 1990 to 2024 using data from the Scopus database. The specialized Bibliometric Analysis software VOSviewer was used to analyze the data and extract patterns related to the research topic. The results show that scientific production in this field has had an upward trend and the highest publication rate was recorded in 2024 with 128 articles. Countries such as Italy, Spain, France and the United Kingdom have made the largest contribution to the production of knowledge. At the individual level, researchers such as Brunori, Esparcia and Pinto-Correia have a high position in terms of scientific effectiveness. Journals such as Sustainability, Land Use Policy and Journal of Rural Studies have been the main platforms for publishing these studies. Also, showed that co-occurrence of keywords such as rural development, sustainable development, territorial planning and local governance" are the most frequent words in this field. On the other hand, examining the theoretical content and lexical analysis of rural development concepts in the form of seven semantic clusters shows that territorial development is a comprehensive, integrated and systemic approach that makes sense at different spatial and policy levels. The conceptual model presented by Medeiros (2019), by outlining three main components including dimensions, pillars and levels, provided a deeper understanding of this type of development. In general, the findings indicate the significant growth and dynamism of this field at the international level and the need for greater attention to local capacities, local participation and territorial policy-making in rural development programs.

Keywords

Territorial approach

rural development

Bibliometric

co-occurrence

co-authorship

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