Linking Digital Agriculture Research and Export Outcomes: A Comparative Bibliometric Analysis of Production and Marketing Dimensions (2020–2024)

This study first analyses the use of digital technologies in agriculture from two different perspectives. Then, correlation analyses using these data aim to show which countries focus on which of the two perspectives are ahead in agricultural exports. In the study, publications containing the word ‘agriculture’ in the title, abstract, or keywords section of the Scopus database and the keywords ‘digital technology’ and ‘production’ in the all-fields section were selected and recorded as publications in which digital technologies in agricultural production were investigated. Then, in the Scopus database, publications containing the word ‘agriculture’ in the title, abstract or keywords section and the words ‘digital technology’ and ‘marketing’ in the all-fields section were kept in a separate category and recorded as publications in which digital technologies in marketing of agricultural products were investigated. These two data sets were subjected to correlation analysis with export data obtained from OECD databases, and interactions on the axes of agriculture, digital technologies, production, and marketing were revealed. After selecting the OECD member countries with export data from all the data obtained, the number of academic publications of these countries with the specified conditions is given in separate tables. The correlation analysis on OECD member countries revealed a statistically significant and strong positive relationship between the average agricultural export volumes for 2020-2024 and the number of scientific publications containing the terms agriculture, digital technologies, and production indexed in the Scopus database. The Pearson correlation coefficient was calculated as r = 0.813, and the significance level was p = 0.004. When a similar correlation analysis was conducted with publications containing agriculture, digital technologies, and marketing terms, the Pearson correlation coefficient was r = 0.958 with a significance level of p < 0.001. This finding indicates that countries that produce higher levels of academic output in agriculture (publications containing both production and marketing terms) tend to have higher export performance in the agricultural sector. The results suggest that there may be a significant relationship between academic productivity and economic output in international agricultural trade.