Abstract

This bibliometric study mapped the global landscape of water buffalo research from 2000 to 2024 based on 5,194 publications indexed in the Scopus database. The analysis evaluated publication trends, collaboration patterns, and the evolution of major research themes in buffalo science. The findings showed a substantial increase in scientific output over the study period, reflecting growing global interest in buffalo production systems. India emerged as the leading contributor in terms of publication output and citation impact, while Italy demonstrated the strongest international collaboration network. Thematic analyses revealed that buffalo research has predominantly focused on milk production, reproductive biotechnology, genetics, and molecular approaches, with recent studies increasingly emphasizing genomic applications and reproductive technologies. On the contrary, research related to nutrition, feed innovation, rumen function, and sustainable feeding strategies remains relatively limited despite its importance for production efficiency and environmental sustainability. Collaboration network analysis also indicated that internationally co-authored publications generally achieved higher citation impact than single-country studies. Overall, the results highlight the need for future buffalo research to strengthen studies on sustainable feeding systems, locally available feed resources, rumen microbiology, and climate-resilient production strategies, alongside broader international collaboration and integration of emerging technologies to support the long-term sustainability and competitiveness of buffalo production systems.

Key words: Buffalo; Bibliometric; Citation; Reproduction; Sustainability.