Vietnamese agritourism knowledge within the Destination Knowledge Ecosystem: a mixed-method bibliometric analysis (2000–2025)

Destination-focused knowledge audits in agritourism often remain descriptive, overlooking structural inequalities and destination-level bottlenecks . This study advances a transferable diagnostic by integrating the Destination Knowledge Ecosystem (DKE) with bibliometric mapping, CiteSpace Structural Variation Analysis (SVA), and qualitative synthesis to assess knowledge inputs, network structures, thematic content and outcomes in an emerging economy . Using a sequential mixed-method design, we harmonise multilingual domestic records through a bespoke 59-field WoS-style schema and analyse three corpora (2000–2025): 53 domestic Vietnamese records, 22 internationally indexed Vietnam-focused papers and 1447 global non-Vietnam papers . Empirically, Vietnamese agritourism output has grown 10-fold since 2014 yet remains modest (75 Vietnam-focused records), with highly concentrated authorship (Lotka α = 2.82) and limited cross-border collaboration (14%). The domestic keyword base is narrow: while climate resilience, digital innovation and governance remain peripheral. SVA identifies only two Vietnam-centred papers with modest bridging potential , reflecting Vietnam’s peripheral position in knowledge flows. Qualitative analysis reveals a practice-led, under theorised corpus with weak policy uptake. By combining DKE and SVA at destination scale, this study reframes bibliometric reviews as ecosystem diagnostics, offering a replicable approach to identify thematic gaps, collaboration constraints, and pathways for more inclusive agritourism knowledge development.
This article pioneers the integration of the Destination Knowledge Ecosystem (DKE) with Structural Variation Analysis (SVA) to audit national-level tourism research. By fusing these two frameworks, we generate a replicable mixed-method protocol that simultaneously maps inputs, network structures, thematic content and transformative frontiers an analytical breadth not achieved in previous agritourism reviews. Methodologically, the study advances bibliometric practice by (i) harmonising multilingual corpora through a bespoke 59-field WoS schema, (ii) testing Lotka productivity in an emerging economy setting and (iii) applying harmonic-mean SVA metrics (M, |C-L|, |C-D|) to identify peripheral yet high-impact articles. Theoretically, our destination-centred lens reveals how scientific inequality is reproduced within global knowledge flows and proposes DKE-based remedies for lesser resourced research communities. Empirically, it delivers the first longitudinal, multi-corpus panorama of Vietnamese agritourism scholarship, exposing thematic white spaces in climate resilience, digital innovation and governance. Collectively, these contributions reposition destination-scale bibliometric analyses from descriptive inventories to diagnostic tools capable of guiding equitable knowledge development.