Downstream Economics to Support Sustainable Industrial Growth: Trends and Insights from Bibliometric Analysis

This article aims to examine trends and gain insights from bibliometric studies on downstream economics and its role in supporting sustainable industrial growth. The analysis covers 19,816 articles from the Scopus database published between 1972 and 2025. We used Bibliometrix, VOSviewer, and CiteSpace to identify main trends. We found that topics such as 'biomass,' 'microalgae,' and 'life cycle assessment' are becoming more important, highlighting a move toward bioenergy and renewable resources to reduce industrial environmental impact. The results show that adopting circular economy models and improving supply chain management are key to spreading these innovations. Taking an interdisciplinary approach is important to connect new technologies with policy and to address the challenges of using renewable energy, circular economy ideas, and ecosystem restoration.