ADAPTIVE GOVERNANCE FOR NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT: A BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS

Abstract

This bibliometric analysis explores the evolving research landscape of “Adaptive Governance for Natural Resources Management,” a field that addresses the growing complexity and uncertainty in environmental management. Despite increasing attention, scholarly work on adaptive governance remains fragmented across disciplines, with limited synthesis of its intellectual development and thematic focus. This study aims to fill that gap by identifying key trends, influential contributions, and thematic structures within the literature. A targeted search was conducted using three keywords: “adaptive governance,” “adaptive management,” and “natural resource” in the Scopus database. After applying the inclusion criteria and performing data cleaning using OpenRefine, a total of 832 relevant documents were selected for analysis. The Scopus Analyzer was used to examine publication trends and citation metrics. At the same time, VOSviewer was used to generate visualizations of keyword co-occurrence, country collaboration, and authorship networks. The results reveal a steady increase in publication output over the last decade, with peaks in 2023 and 2024. Core research clusters focus on themes such as water governance, climate change, adaptive capacity, and sustainability. The United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom emerged as the most productive and influential countries. This study contributes to a clearer understanding of the field’s structure, highlights dominant research areas, and identifies opportunities for future interdisciplinary collaboration. The findings provide valuable insights for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners seeking to enhance adaptive approaches to natural resource management.