Mapping Research on Waste Management Policy and Community Participation: A Bibliometric Study

Abstract

Waste management policy increasingly depends on community participation, yet research on the two themes remains fragmented and has not been mapped as an integrated field. This study examines publication trends, intellectual structure, and thematic evolution in this research area through a bibliometric analysis of 117 Scopus-indexed journal articles published between 2020 and 2026. Performance analysis and science mapping, including keyword co-occurrence, thematic map, and thematic evolution analyses, were performed in R using bibliometrix. Annual output rose from 5 documents in 2020 to 48 in 2026 (annual growth rate 45.78%), spread across 79 sources and 493 authors. China and Indonesia lead production, and 35.04% of documents involve international co-authorship. Citations are concentrated, with one article holding 38.7% of the total. The knowledge structure is dominated by governance and policy vocabulary around waste management, sustainable development, and circular economy, whereas community participation remains a small, peripheral theme, although it emerges as a distinct theme in 2026 together with public policy. The field is shifting from a policy-centered toward a participation-aware orientation but has not yet integrated the two. Future research should clarify the concept of participation, move from intentions to outcomes, and strengthen work on local implementation, digital engagement, and cross-country comparison.