Ten Years of Research on the Water-Energy-Food Nexus: An Analysis of Topics Evolution

This study explores how the concept and research on water-energy-food (WEF) nexus has evolved over time. The uncovers key terms underpinning phenomenon, maps interlinkages between WEF topics, provides an overview of evolution nexus. We analyzed published academic literature from Scopus database performed both qualitative quantitative analyses using Natural Language Processing method. findings suggest that approach is increasingly evolving into integrative concept, been incorporating new topics time, resulting in different methods for research, with a focus interdisciplinary inter-sectoral analyses. Through five periods outlined, we have identified debate focused following predominant topics: i) Trend 1 (2012–2016) debates water management natural resource security, ii) 2 (2017–2018) linkages nexus, sustainable development goals green economy, iii) 3 (2019) governance policy integration, iv) 4 (2020) application scales, including regions, countries, watersheds, urban areas as well other components coupled to and, v) 5 (2021) climate change challenges.