Standards as knowledge infrastructures in agri-food governance: a scientometric review of food safety, authenticity, and sustainability research

With the development of the global agricultural and food industry, demand for standards supporting food safety, trade, quality assurance, authenticity, and sustainability has increased. Yet the knowledge structure, thematic evolution, and emerging fronts of agri-food standards research remain insufficiently mapped. Using the Web of Science Core Collection, this study identified 151 English-language articles and reviews published from January 2000 to 31 March 2026 and conducted CiteSpace-based scientometric analyses of publication patterns, collaboration networks, keyword co-occurrence and clustering, document co-citation, author co-citation, and journal co-citation. Annual publication-growth comparisons were restricted to the complete 2000–2025 period. The results show that agri-food standards research has expanded from conventional food safety toward trade governance, authenticity verification, sustainability, and global value-chain governance. Recent-frontier signals, identified by late cluster mean years together with continued activity in timeline and mountain views, concentrate on food authenticity and chemometric detection, novel processing and allergen control, and voluntary sustainability standards with smallholder inclusion. Author- and institution-level collaboration remains fragmented, whereas international organisations and inter­disciplinary journals operate as indirect knowledge integrators. The study conceptualizes agri-food standards as knowledge infrastructures linking scientific measurement, regulatory coordination, market governance, and stakeholder-based knowledge exchange.