A systematic review of global ship recycling research: Drivers, trends, and future research opportunities

Ship recycling returns materials and components to productive use, but persistent environmental and occupational risks complicate its contribution to sustainable maritime transport. Policymakers must reconcile resource recovery with worker protection, regulatory compliance and the economic conditions shaping vessel disposal. This systematic review examines 291 English-language journal articles and reviews from the Web of Science Core Collection, combining scientometric analysis with thematic and methodological synthesis to identify research trends, evidence gaps and policy priorities. The literature has expanded across environmental, engineering, legal and economic fields, with environmental assessment and legal interpretation accounting for much of the evidence. Recent studies advance uncertainty modelling, retirement decisions and circular practices, yet connections across actors, regions and lifecycle stages remain limited. Five research needs emerge: understanding systemic uncertainty, explaining interacting responses to incentives, validating circular value pathways, establishing regional transferability and connecting recycling with wider maritime supply chains. Building on these findings, a four-part framework organises future research around system evolution, behavioural responses, circular value creation and supply-chain integration, with regional comparison informing each direction. The policy implications concern linking vessel-retirement planning with recycling capacity, adapting incentives to actors' resources and constraints, and improving information on recovered-product quality and downstream demand. These priorities connect decisions before and after dismantling and provide a basis for evaluating recycling policies against resource recovery, environmental performance and worker protection.