Bibliometric analysis of photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) system: From citation mapping to research agenda

Literature on photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) system has developed significantly over the last decades. Besides a few review papers, no study has examined their citations using the most popular citation mapping technique — bibliometric. This study, for the first time, reviews total 1659 published documents from Scopus database on PV/T system from 1981 until August 20, 2021, using bibliometric analysis. For data analysis and graphical presentation, the bibliometrix package in R software and the VOSviewer software are implemented. The results of theme mapping, trend topics, bibliometric coupling, and co-occurrence networks have been used to identify potential research fields for the future. The results indicate that the photovoltaic thermal system literature has advanced after 2000 at a pace of 16.28 percent per year. Results also identify the most influential parts of the literature in terms of most cited topic, articles, authors, and keywords. Results reveals that application of artificial neural networks analysis on PV/T, multiphase flow integrated photovoltaic thermal systems, and magnetic effects with photovoltaic have potential literature gap.