A Bibliometric Framework for Quantifying Research on Kimchi, A Staple Korean Dish

Abstract

Kimchi is one of the fermented foods studied and discussed by researchers for many decades. Several perspectives have been considered while investigating the role of Kimchi. Thus, this demands a scientific review of this domain. This study is an honest attempt to map the scientific production of Kimchi. A descriptive, performance and bibliometric analysis were conducted to achieve the objective based on 924 documents recovered from the Scopus database. The results suggest a steady growth in the number of publications since 2016. The initial data shows that 160 journals have contributed 924 articles between 1979-2022. It is found that South Korea contributes nearly 94% (868 articles) of the total contribution, followed by the United States, China, and Japan. The institution-wise analysis (Figure 4) of the published articles based on the authors' affiliations suggests that most articles have been published by South Korean Institutes, followed by the United States. With 19 publications, the Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition has emerged as the most influential journal in Kimchi literature. The keyword analysis identifies nine themes. This analysis's findings reveal that the properties of Kimchi and the quality and sensory evaluation of kimchi were the most niche topics in this domain. Findings also revealed that the health benefits of Kimchi, the quality of Kimchi, and the bacteria involved in Kimchi fermentation were emerging themes in the Kimchi knowledge base. The findings of this study are helpful for future researchers in identifying the most influential authors, journals, and articles. Further, this study’s results also determine future research objectives in the Kimchi studies.