Bibliometric systematic review and content analysis of agricultural product distribution system studies

The distribution system of agricultural products has the important responsibility of delivering food to households and reducing hunger around the world. In this regard, the present research was conducted based on interpretative paradigm with the aim of a systematic bibliometric review and content analysis of agricultural product distribution system studies. For this purpose, after a systematic search in the Scopus and WOS databases, 331 related articles from 1974 to 2023 were selected based on the PRISMA protocol and entered into the bibliometric package in R software and VOSviewer software. The obtained database was analyzed based on the bibliometric techniques of citation analysis, bibliometric coupling, key word co-occurrence, conceptual thematic analysis, and content analysis. The findings showed that four clusters—"symbiosis of distribution system members", "distribution system networking with external partners", "customer satisfaction with the distribution system," and "distribution system performance"—were identified from the studies. The results of this study suggest the use of a multi-network distribution system and the use of Third-Party Logistic (3PL) providers capabilities for better distribution of agricultural products.