Industry 4.0 and sustainability: A bibliometric literature review

Abstract

Industry 4.0 (I4.0), Sustainability, and the Circular Economy are recently popularized concepts likely to redefine how economies and industries work. This paper, as the opening piece of this Special Issue, consists of a bibliometric study of 393 articles linking the Issue’s key themes: Industry 4.0, Sustainability and the Circular Economy. Given that this is still a recent area of the literature, and the fact that it already commands a fast-growing number of publications, the provision of an updated overview of the relevant scientific production in the field is a relevant contribution.