The significance of goat milk in enhancing nutrition security: a scientiometric evaluation of research studies from 1966 to 2020

Abstract Background The present study aimed to reveal scientific findings on goat milk as an instrument to combat food and nutrition insecurity, while considering the recurrent challenge posed by food dearth and high rise of hunger among susceptible people of numerous nations. Results A sum of 9206 research outputs were extracted in a BibTeX design for evaluation by means of bibliometric package in R studio software. The generated result included, but not restricted to authors, citations, affiliations, journals and key words. Published research findings on goat milk as related to nutrition security retrieved from web of science (WOS) and Scopus data bases were used with an increase in scientific findings of an annual growth of 14.42% during the period of study. From the result of the study, Spain was rated in first position with a total of publications (n = 953), and a massive global scientific influence with the highest article citations (n = 17,035). The most commonly referred authors’ keywords in this research field were goat/s (n = 1605), milk (n = 920), dairy goat/s (n = 372), fatty acid/s (n = 307), cheese (n = 251), milk production (n = 220), milk consumption (n = 173), which all together gave a hint on associated research studies on goat milk and nutrition security. Conclusions The current study presented a global picture that covers the pool of scientific knowledge on goat milk research and its relevance in nutrition security, while giving a direction for more studies in this research area. It is of utmost importance to stress that the present findings only addressed prime areas of goat milk production as linked to nutrition security research, therefore, it is proposed that novel empirical study and potential research outcomes would give new understanding and insight on goat milk utilization as an avenue to tackle nutrition security issues as new findings emerges.