Halal meat research trends and scientific production: a 20-year bibliometric analysis

Purpose Halal meat is a rapidly expanding research niche within the halal food literature; however, there is a dearth of quantitative data that highlight current trends in the field and provide direction for future studies. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to adopt a scientometric approach to assess scientific productivity in the domain of halal meat research over a 20-year period. Design/methodology/approach By using a related keyword search, a total of 272 publications covering the period 2001–2021 were retrieved from the Science Citation Index Expanded database through the Web of Science platform. Visualization analysis for mapping research trends based on co-occurrences of keywords was conducted using VOSviewer. Findings All the retrieved records were published by 941 authors in 53 countries and 109 journals. Of the total scientific publications, 5,525 total citations were found, with 20.31 average citations per publication. Malaysia mandated the research and is currently the global leader in this area, possessing the most publications, most affiliated prolific authors and most featured institutions. Visualization analysis based on co-occurrences of keywords revealed three clusters of research themes, namely, meat authentication and identification, animal slaughter and stunning and halal supply chain and consumerism. Originality/value Quantitative scientometric data are lacking on the profile of published research in halal meat. Therefore, this study provides valuable insight into the current status of global halal meat research and highlights the emerging trend in this domain.