One hundred and twenty-five years of the <i>British Food Journal</i> : a bibliometric analysis

Purpose This study aims to provide a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of the British Food Journal (BFJ) to evaluate its contributions to food-related research over its 125-year history. It explores publication trends, thematic developments, and citation structures to assess the academic and societal impact of the journal. Design/methodology/approach The analysis includes 5,208 documents published in the BFJ between 1899 and 2024, sourced from the Scopus database. Advanced bibliometric methods were employed, including descriptive, thematic, and network analyses. Biblioshiny for R and VOSviewer were used to generate co-occurrence networks, collaboration patterns and keyword trends. Findings The analysis identifies 9,213 authors worldwide who contribute to the BFJ’s diverse body of literature. These contributions originate from 92 countries and 2,483 institutions and have an international co-authorship of 16.13%, highlighting the journal’s growing international and interdisciplinary reach. Thematic clusters focus on agricultural and food industry dynamics; technological advancements and sustainability in the food system; consumer health, nutrition and eating behaviour; consumer perception and market strategies; ethical and cultural dimensions of food choices; niche trends in food preferences and tourism; ethics, values and lifestyle influences on food behaviour. Citation-burst and keyword-evolution analyses demonstrate that research on the theory of planned behaviour, sustainable business-model innovation, and emerging consumer behaviours has intensified over the past decade, underscoring BFJ’s dual focus on academic rigour and managerial relevance. Originality/value This is the first bibliometric investigation to span the BFJ’s entire 125-year corpus (1899–2024), using Scopus data and integrating performance analysis, science-overlay mapping and citation-burst detection to trace how knowledge networks and thematic priorities have shifted decade by decade. By mapping its historical and thematic evolution, the findings provide valuable insights for researchers, policymakers and practitioners in the field. Unlike earlier reviews limited to specific topics or short time windows, our study highlights distinctive collaboration patterns and disciplinary influences and provides a thematic cluster point agenda to guide the next 125 years of food-research scholarship.