An exploratory bibliometric analysis of risk, resilience, and sustainability management of transport infrastructure systems

Abstract

Transport infrastructure systems (TIS) are key enablers of economic development and welfare. However, such infrastructures are exposed to natural and anthropogenic hazards that have caused structural failures, traffic disruptions, injuries and fatalities, and damages to the environment. These past events have underscored the need for more resilient transportation systems. However, reducing risks and achieving more resilient infrastructure systems may result in greater resource consumption and environmental impacts, demanding the consideration of sustainability requirements in the management of TIS. Therefore, this paper conducts an exploratory study to map the current knowledge in the domain of risk, resilience, and sustainability management of TIS. As a first step, the system identification of TIS in the context of their management is conducted for the purpose of providing the basis for searching for relevant information. This step sets the baseline for conducting a bibliometric analysis of 16,395 scientific works extracted from the Scopus database between 1990 and 2022. Two quantitative bibliometric techniques are used, namely term co-occurrence and bibliographic coupling. The former technique allows to distinguish the different disciplinary contributions and to identify research gaps. The latter technique facilitates the identification of the main contributors (authors and countries) and the relatedness of research communities. The bibliometric analysis performed provides the basis for future research and development to improve the management of TIS and highlights the potential for transferring knowledge from other research domains.