Circular economy scientific knowledge in the European Union and China: A bibliometric, network and survey analysis (2006–2016)

Abstract

In this article, we analyse the evolution of circular economy (CE) scientific knowledge in the most productive political geographies in the field, namely the European Union (EU) 28 and China by using bibliometric, network and survey analysis. Our objective is to provide a systemic, quantitative, visio-temporal review of the evolution of the CE scientific research field. Using Web of Science (WoS) database and Scopus, we trace the bibliometric characteristics of key research terms, their co-occurrences, publication (co)authorships at multi-level (author, institute, city, region, country), issue journals, literature citations and funding sources. Our findings from co-authorship, citation, co-citation, bibliometric coupling, co-occurrence and network analyses indicate that China and the EU have the highest amount of CE literature published and are each other's primary source of co-authorship. Emerging or reiterated main themes in the joint CE literature between EU and China are emergy analysis, indicators; resource efficiency, food waste, zero waste; eco-cities, lifestyle and governance. There appears a good potential for international cooperation in the sectoral fields of automotive, construction and demolition, critical raw materials; in business, (new) business models, product and services platforms, and from security perspective, resource security, security of supply, given the paucity of co-authorship between China and the EU under these themes. In China; Beijing, Shenyang, Dalian, Shanghai are the most active cities with a central role of Chinese Academy of Sciences at institution level of analysis. The most active EU institute is the Delft University of Technology in South Holland, the Netherlands. In Europe, we observe countries citing CE literature yet with no or few publications. Journal of Cleaner Production is the most important outlet for publications on CE and also for joint publications of CE researchers in both China and EU-28. We conclude our article with future research agendas, and a positive note on existing interests in international cooperation based on our survey participated by highly-cited CE authors.

Examination of Short Supply Chains Based on Circular Economy and Sustainability Aspects

“…Very significant literary works have been created before in the term of circular economy, for example, the bibliometric network and survey analysis of Türkeli et al (2018) [106], or the bibliometric analysis of 743 articles made by Ruiz-Real et al (2018) [125] Sustainability and short supply chains are also widely researched topics. In this article, we relied on our experiences we gained from the articles of a literature review.…”

“…Regarding the sustainability of supply chains, research on social aspects is still underrepresented, and this fact offers further research opportunities for the future [105]. Examining societal aspect may be recommended directly in the field of Circular Economy too [106]. According to Taghikhah et al (2019) [107], it is impossible to talk about sustainability without extending the supply chain to consumers' behavior itself and its impact on system performance.…”

Implementación de estrategias scientometrics, webometrics, altmetrics, bibliometrics en una IES que oferta programas académicos de modalidad a distancia, construyendo escenarios de I+D+I (CTI) 2017-2018

“…No obstante, el Indicador de cooperación se establece dentro de las herramientas bibliométrica con el que se busca evidenciar el trabajo conjunto -coautoría-entre grupos, entre autores, nivel de cocitación, bases de datos especializadas (Türkeli, S.;Kemp, R.;Huang, B.;Bleischwitz, R., & McDowall, W., 2018).…”

Smart Grid R&D Planning Based on Patent Analysis

“…Furthermore, in support of the growing interests in the circular economy concept, the smart grid possesses prodigious capacity to accommodate efficient, renewable, and reusable energy solutions to many aspects of the energy grid, e.g., power generation, distribution, and consumption [22]. Many research endeavors have been performed to address the capabilities and opportunities of smart grid in respect to the circular economy framework [18], most notably to address the roles of digital and smart technologies [20,23] and the monitoring of energy generation [51], transmission, distribution [52], consumption [53], and management [50][51][52][53][54] in smart grid scenarios [24].…”

“…Additionally, collaborations in research are mandatory, because the connection between the different technologies is significantly sizable. While the current linear economy utilizes resources to manufacture products and disposes of them after consumption, the smart grid industry also meticulously aligns to the recent growth in interests of the circular economy framework, which aims to achieve a desired zero-waste society [18] through reusable, restorative and regenerative measures of wastes to retain as much value in producing new and renewed products or services [19][20][21]. Development in smart grid optimization is imperative due to its potential and innate aptitude to improve both the economic and environmental positions in support of the circular economy concept [22][23][24].…”