Olive Yield Prediction in the Mediterranean Basin: Bibliometric Evidence of Precision Agricultural Engineering Gaps and Innovation Priorities for Sustainable Agri-Food Systems

This bibliometric study maps olive (Olea europaea L.) yield prediction research as a coherent scientific domain for the first time. A Scopus query (27 February 2026) yielded 84 peer-reviewed articles (2002–2025), from which co-authorship network analysis, Bradford’s and Lotka’s Laws, Latent Dirichlet Allocation topic modelling (LDA), and OLS regression on citation counts were applied. Publication output increased nearly fourfold across three periods: 1.7 articles yr−1 (2002–2014), 4.4 yr−1 (2015–2019), and 6.7 yr−1 (2020–2025). The 84 articles involve 382 authors, 61 journals, and 1551 citations (H-index = 22). Network analysis reveals a concentrated Spanish–Italian co-authorship axis. OLS regression (adj. R2 = 0.267) identifies article age and abstract length as the only significant citation predictors, consistent with cumulative exposure time and study scope as structural drivers. Term-frequency screening against 18 a priori concepts finds that transfer learning, federated learning, hyperspectral imaging, digital twins, and SHAP-based explainability are absent or marginal. The field is producing more papers than ever on a narrowing methodological base geographically concentrated in the Mediterranean basin. Priority gaps—explainable AI, multi-region datasets, sensor-fusion pipelines, and federated data infrastructure—align directly with European Farm to Fork and Horizon Europe objectives.