Thirty years of agroecology research trends in Africa: a bibliometric analysis using the scopus database

Agroecology emerged as a distinct scientific field in the 1970s, when agronomists and ecologists integrated ecological processes into agricultural practices, evolving from a focus on production systems to a holistic approach encompassing environmental, social, economic, and cultural dimensions. In Africa, agroecology research starts with agroecological practices linked to climate adaptation, agroforestry, and soil restoration. Given the continent’s high exposure to climate change, land degradation, and food insecurity, evolutionary assessment of agroecology as a scientific field in Africa is critical but remains systematically unexplored. This study maps and evaluates agroecology research in Africa using a bibliometric analysis of 397 peer-reviewed articles indexed in Scopus (1994–2024). Using the VOS viewer, the analysis examines keyword co-occurrence, co-authorship networks, and thematic clusters to identify research trends and collaboration patterns. The results show a steady increase in publication output and a shift from crop- and soil-focused studies towards broader sustainability- and policy-oriented themes. The findings also reveal a concentration of publications in a limited number of high-impact journals and relatively weak collaboration networks. Overall, the study provides a structured overview of the field's development and identifies key gaps and opportunities to strengthen agroecological research and its role in sustainable agricultural transformation.