From Agro-Industrial By-Products to Cosmetic Ingredients: A Bibliometric and Corpus-Based Review of Recent Advances in Arabinoxylans, Functional Properties, and Formulation Opportunities

Agro-industrial by-products are promising sources of arabinoxylans (AX), yet their relevance to cosmetic science remains fragmented. This bibliometric and corpus-based review evaluated the functional, dermal, and formulation-related evidence supporting the use of AX as cosmetic ingredients. Three Web of Science Core Collection datasets were analyzed: F1 for functional and agro-industrial applications (31 records), F2 for dermal relevance (86 records), and F3 for formulation-oriented studies (29 records). Bibliometric mapping, thematic analysis, corpus-based qualitative synthesis, structured full-text extraction of the 10 most-cited F1 studies, patent analysis, and a review of the European cosmetic framework were applied. AX research focused on food hydrocolloids, emulsification, oxidative stability, gelation, films, and delivery systems. Functional performance varied with botanical source, extraction route, molecular weight, branching, phenolic content, and associated proteins. Dermal evidence centered on hydrogels, emulgels, films, and skin-contact delivery systems, while direct cosmetic studies remained limited. Representative systems showed emulsion stability for 14 days at AX concentrations up to 0.3%, water-holding capacities near 98% in composite gels, and active-compound release above 80% within 24 h from AX-based films. However, these quantitative outcomes were frequently obtained from multicomponent systems or AX-rich fractions containing proteins, other polysaccharides, crosslinkers, active compounds, or associated constituents; therefore, the measured performance cannot always be attributed specifically to AX. Overall, the reviewed studies document emulsifying, gel-forming, film-forming, hydration-related, antioxidant, and delivery properties in AX-containing or AX-derived systems; direct validation in finished cosmetic formulations remains limited. However, AX-specific contributions require appropriate compositional controls and validation in finished cosmetic formulations. Future research should prioritize standardized ingredient characterization, finished-formulation testing, topical safety and sensory assessment, and direct benchmarking against established cosmetic materials. Given the restricted size of F1 (n = 31), its bibliometric outputs provide an exploratory, descriptive assessment and should not be considered statistically representative of the broader AX field.