Is agricultural revitalization possible through the climate-smart agriculture: a systematic review and citation-based analysis

PurposeThis paper seeks to identify the prevailing streams in the research of climate-smart agriculture in order to help to conceptualize this new scientific notion and assist in drawing clear borders between climate-smart agriculture, agricultural sustainability and resilience.Design/methodology/approachIn order to conceptualize the climate-smart agriculture (CSA), the current research provides an in-depth bibliometric analysis indicating the prospective research directions in CSA. The findings of this paper are important in guiding the research on creation of climate-smart agriculture across different regions.FindingsThe notion of the CSA covers three main objectives: increased productivity, enhanced resilience and reduced environmental footprint of agriculture. It is found that due to its novelty, the climate-smart notion does not always have its defined research agenda and is considered to be both a constituent part of some other scientific framework (e.g. sustainability) and an independent research avenue.Originality/valueThis paper presents an in-depth analysis of the literature on the CSA. The linkages among the concepts, research centers and research strands are identified via the citation-based analysis.