Sustainable vs circular business models in agribusiness: a comparative bibliometric analysis

Abstract Agribusiness is using several strategies to achieve sustainable development. The sustainable business models and the circular business models tools are adopted to turn agro-industrial waste into new sustainable products and business opportunities. Even if they are two different tools, the boundary between them is not strictly defined but quite flexible, making it difficult for researchers and stakeholders to discriminate among them. Helping to simplify the understanding of their boundaries, authors purpose to carry out a bibliometric comparative analysis between the sustainable business models and the circular business models in agribusiness. The study aims to underline their different and similar trends in literature. For the analysis, Bibliometrix R-Tool was used and the metadata of two databases (WoS and Scopus) were retrieved and merged. Biblioshiny was used to provide graphical outputs. Data from the two groups were compared in different analysis, such as keywords used, country’s research performance, annual scientific production, among others. It resulted that, although circular business models are more recent in comparison with sustainable business models, both present an increasing publication interest in literature and a similar geographical distribution interest about the issues. However, some interesting differences have been identified, such as the most frequent keywords plus and citation used, among others. These findings can help identify overall trends in circular and sustainable business models in agribusiness, and point out contrasting and common aspects, providing an overview about these research topics in academic literature over time. Additionally, this investigation provides clear outlines and helpful information to researchers, scholars, government managers, industry managers, and consultants.