Mapping Digitalization in Smart and Sustainable Agricultural Mechanical Systems

Abstract

This study examines the growth of digitalization in smart and sustainable agricultural mechanical systems using bibliometric methods. Data were retrieved from Web of Science (368 records) and Scopus (310 records). After this step, 94 duplicate documents were removed, leaving 584 documents for the period from 2000 to 2025 for analysis. The number of publications has grown steadily since 2018 and is expected to reach over 100 records in 2024. The dataset had an annual growth rate of 14.31%, an average of 10.06 citations per document, and 317 contributing sources. Keyword co-occurrence analysis identified the main topic groups related to “IoT,” “intelligent systems,” “sustainable development,” “Industry 4.0,” “artificial intelligence,” and “Industry 5.0.” The outcomes show a shift from individual technical solutions to networked fields of research in the digitalization of mechanical systems and sustainability. The main links were found among Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, Industry 4.0, Industry 5.0, and sustainability. This study contributes to the literature through a three-layer keyword strategy related to digitalization, smart sustainability, and agricultural machinery. This approach will help future interdisciplinary studies define clearer directions for research in this field. 

Received: 2 December 2025 | Revised: 16 June 2026 | Accepted: 7 July 2026

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to this work. 

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in Mendeley Data at https://doi.org/10.17632/85dvr6kcxv.1. 

Author Contribution Statement

Nguyen Van Ninh: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Resources, Data curation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Visualization, Project administration. Phuong Viet Do: Validation, Writing – review & editing.