Reliability Assessment of Marine Propulsion Systems for MASS: A Bibliometric Analysis and Literature Review

Abstract

The maritime industry is rapidly advancing towards Industry 4.0 and the integration of autonomous shipping technologies. As the main propulsion system for autonomous vessels, marine engines play a critical role in ensuring the safety and reliability of operations at sea. Therefore, assessing the reliability and associated risks of marine engine systems is essential to prevent failures that could compromise autonomous navigation. This study conducts a comprehensive bibliometric analysis to provide up-to-date insights into the reliability assessment of marine engine machinery in the context of autonomous shipping. A total of 139 publications were retrieved from Web of Science and 133 from the Scopus database. The analysis addresses the key questions like (i) Which countries are leading research in this field? (ii) Which sources are most active in publishing this research? (iii) Which articles have had the greatest impact? (iv) Who are the most influential authors? (v) What keywords appear most frequently? (vi) What methodologies are commonly used? The findings indicate that this research area has attracted global attention, with Norway, the United States, Finland, Poland, and China being the most active contributors. However, Norway is leading in total output. Among the methodologies employed, the Bayesian network has been identified as the most widely used approach for reliability assessment of marine propulsion systems in MASS.