A Decade of Coffee Research in Indonesia, Philippines, and Vietnam (2015–2024): Bibliometric and Thematic Insights for Philippine Coffee Science

Coffee is a key agricultural commodity in Southeast Asia, with Vietnam and Indonesia ranking among the world's leading producers, while the Philippines faces declining output and fragmented research efforts. This study compares coffee-related research in Indonesia, Philippines, and Vietnam from 2015 to 2024 to inform strategies for strengthening Philippine coffee science. A mixed-methods scientometric and thematic approach was applied to a corpus of Scopus-indexed journal articles. Descriptive bibliometric indicators were used to examine research productivity, citation visibility, collaboration structures, institutional participation, funding composition, and disciplinary coverage. Longitudinal patterns in selected indicators were assessed using non-parametric trend analysis (Kendall's τ and Sen's slope), appropriate for short, time-ordered bibliometric series. AI-assisted thematic mapping, combined with manual verification, was employed to trace the evolution of research themes based on titles, abstracts, and keywords. The results reveal clear differences among the three national research systems. Indonesia and Vietnam demonstrate higher per-capita research output, broader international collaboration networks, wider institutional participation, and more diverse funding landscapes than the Philippines. Corporate collaboration is negligible across all three countries. Thematic analysis shows a regional shift from production- and quality-focused research toward traceability, sustainability, climate-smart practices, and digital technologies, with Vietnam exhibiting the strongest integration of advanced tools such as AI and blockchain. Philippine coffee research shows relatively greater emphasis on socio-economic, livelihood, and community-oriented themes but has more limited engagement in engineering, environmental systems, and processing-related research domains. Overall, the findings highlight structural and thematic features shaping the international visibility and positioning of Philippine coffee research relative to its regional peers. By providing the first systematic comparative mapping of coffee research across Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam, this study demonstrates the value of regional scientometric comparison for generating diagnostic insights into sector-specific research systems.