Edible Insects for Future Protein and Product Development: Mapping Global Research Trends, Innovation, and Development Through Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

The increasing demand for sustainable protein sources has stimulated growing scientific interest in edible insects as a promising component of future food systems. This study aimed to map the global research landscape and thematic development of edible insect-based product research. A bibliometric analysis was conducted using a Scopus-indexed dataset of 542 records (536 records classified by Scopus as Articles and 6 as Conference Papers) published from 2016 to 2025. Keyword co-occurrence analysis (Author + Index Keywords, minimum occurrence threshold = 5, n = 317 keywords and 14,221 co-occurrence links, with an explicit thesaurus applied to merge terminology variants) identified seven thematic clusters: (1) entomophagy, novel food, and consumer safety; (2) nutritional and compositional validation; (3) protein structural and functional properties; (4) taxon-specific protein sources; (5) bioactive compounds and enzymatic processing; (6) allergenicity and immunological safety; and (7) taxonomic and chemical characterization. Publications increased 16.6-fold between 2016 and 2025 (CAGR ≈ 36.6% year−1), led by South Korea (66 documents), Italy (53), China (48), the United States (41), and Poland (33). Mean citations per document varied across publication cohorts but generally declined toward the most recent years because of unequal citation windows, from 115.1 (2016) to 1.7 (2025), with a higher value in 2017 (195.9). Country-level network analysis shows the United States, Germany, and Italy occupy the strongest structural bridging positions, while South Korea, despite leading in publication volume, shows comparatively limited international-collaboration integration. Key gaps include the underrepresentation of Africa and Southeast Asia in the Scopus-indexed international record, limited independent allergenicity and immunological-safety vocabulary, and scarce techno-economic and large-scale processing evidence. These findings identify priorities for strengthening the safety, technological development, consumer relevance, and international collaboration of insect-based food research.