Knowledge production on artisanal mining in Africa’s major mining countries: A bibliometric assessment

This study examines the evolution of artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) research over the past three decades, focusing on publication trends, thematic shifts, and emerging research priorities. A bibliometric analysis was conducted using Vosviewer and excel sheet to assess publication patterns and thematic evolution in ASM literature. ASM research has evolved from a marginal topic into an established interdisciplinary field. Publication growth accelerated from the mid-2000s and increased sharply after 2018, reflecting concerns about sustainability, resource governance, environmental degradation, occupational health, and informal mining. Also, literature on ASM has shifted from an early focus on environmental contamination and heavy metals toward occupational exposure, public health, sustainability, governance, formalisation, gender, safety, and illegal mining. Three dominant clusters emerged: environmental contamination and toxicity; occupational exposure and public health; and sustainability and governance. This study maps the intellectual development of ASM research and identifies priorities for broader geographical representation and more context-sensitive, policy-relevant research to support formalisation and sustainable development.