A global analysis of circular economy research using metadata and topic modeling

Abstract The Circular Economy (CE) is a sustainability-oriented concept that has attracted significant research attention in recent years. Despite this growing interest, a comprehensive and systematic understanding of the structure and evolution of CE research at the global level remains under investigation. This paper addresses this need by analyzing 16,424 peer-reviewed articles published between 2004 and 2024, retrieved from Scopus, through a combination of metadata analysis and topic modeling techniques. The metadata analysis examines publication trends, subject areas, leading journals and publishers, leading authors, author affiliation countries, and international collaborations. The results show a rapid growth of CE research and the expansion of its applications beyond traditional fields. They also reveal a strong concentration of publications among a small number of publishers, with two publishers accounting for more than half of all CE articles, as well as the notable presence of smaller countries, such as Finland and Denmark, among the most active affiliation countries when normalized by population. The topic analysis identifies 27 research themes across the CE literature and examines their evolution over time, revealing changes in thematic emphasis and a shift toward more implementation-oriented, technological, and application-focused research. Beyond mapping the current research landscape, the results highlight structural asymmetries, emerging research directions, and thematic shifts that can inform future research agendas and support the further development of the field.