Abstract Bivalve mariculture, an ancient approach of providing seafood for human consumption, has gained increasing attention in recent decades due to the advancement of technologies and relevant research. This study analyzed the bibliometric data of bivalve mariculture research documents published between 2000 and May 2024, extracted exclusively from the Web of Science Core Collection. This study aimed to assess the publication trends, research advancements, research gaps, and future research priorities, as well as to explore applicable commercial bivalve mariculture methods. Bibliometrix package in R, and Vosviewer software were used to analyze the data. The study revealed that 24,150 authors from 5393 organizations have published 8314 research documents on bivalve mariculture, dominated by the English language. International co-authorship on the documents is 25.33%, and each document has an average of 22.41 citations. China, the United States, and Australia were the most contributing countries. Qi Li and Hong Yu were the most productive authors, particularly in oyster genomics and breeding. Results also revealed a steady growth rate of 12.08% in publication output, peaking at 751 documents in 2023. Prominently, the journal "Aquaculture" accounted for 15.22% of the total publications. Three major thematic clusters were identified, such as "Bivalve mariculture and environmental impact", "Response to stress, adaptation, and genetics of bivalves", and "Population dynamics and conservation of bivalves". Temporal evolution of topics shows a shift from species-specific farming practices toward molecular tools, disease management, and sustainability-driven approaches. Twenty different bivalve mariculture techniques have been observed worldwide. Despite advancements, research gaps remain in climate refugia identification, pathogen evolution, integrated multi-farm impact assessments, and bioinformatics-based selective breeding. This study directs future research should prioritize microbiome engineering, climate-tolerant bivalve strains, real-time monitoring using AI and remote sensing, quantification of carbon footprints, and ecological succession in bivalve mariculture zones. Broader integration of value chain studies and consumer safety is critical for aligning bivalve mariculture with sustainable blue economy.
Hasan et al. (Sun,) studied this question.