The water-energy-food nexus: a systematic bibliometric analysis

Adequate water, electricity, and food are essential for sustainable development. Regional conflicts intensified by global water, energy, and food shortages necessitate a rethinking of the security and interdependence of these resources. However, most earlier scholars concentrated on the subsystems of the water-energy-food nexus (WEF nexus), lacking holistic studies. Therefore, to understand the history and current state of research on the WEF nexus and predict future research directions, this study analyzed 1313 journal articles from the Web of Science database between 2007 and 2022 using the bibliometric analysis and Citespace software. The findings in this study indicate that (1) the progress of the WEF nexus research can be classified into three stages between 2007 and 2022: the early stage (2007-2010), the fast-developing stage (2011-2015), and the steady and in-depth stage (2016-2022). The WEF nexus has become a hot zone for academic research. (2) Map of the network of countries, institutions, and author collaborations implies tight academic collaboration among countries, institutions, and writers. (3) Climate change, integrated WEF nexus, sustainable development, and security are research hotspots in this field. Meanwhile, energy security, circular economy, and resource allocation are advanced subjects in this field. These key findings can provide managers and researchers with valuable information for decision-making.