Sustainability of water use in agriculture is a line of research that has gained in importance worldwide. The present study reviewed 25 years of international research on sustainable water use in agriculture. A bibliometric analysis was developed to sample 2084 articles. Results indicate exponential growth in the number of articles published per year, with research in this field having acquired a global scale. Environmental Science and Agricultural and Biological Sciences are the main categories. Three journals—Agricultural Water Management, Water Resources Management and Nongye Gongcheng Xuebao Agricultural Engineering—published the most of the articles. China, the U.S., Australia, India and Germany produced the most research. The three institutions that published the most articles were all Chinese (Chinese Academy of Sciences, China Agricultural University and Northwest A&F University). The most cited authors were Ridoutt, Hoekstra and Zhang. The keywords most frequently used include: water-use, irrigation, water-management, water-supply, and sustainability. A network map shows three clusters that focus on the environmental, agronomic and management aspects. The findings of this study can assist researchers in this field by providing an overview of research on the sustainability of hydric resources.

The challenge of transitioning from a linear to a circular economy model is still ongoing and requires the development and application of new knowledge, leading to innovative, technological, and sustainable processes, products, and services. The evolution of global research on this topic from 2004 to 2019 was studied in this work. For this purpose, a bibliometric analysis of 1366 articles was applied, producing results on the scientific productivity of the driving agents that most contribute to this theme. The findings show a growing interest, especially in the last four years, in the study of circular economy (CE) policies on the environment. The main subject area that articles address is environmental science. Five research lines have been identified, which mainly study the efficient management of energy resources and the economic factors that make the CE model possible: Environmental pollution and agricultural activity; waste management to avoid a negative environmental impact; improvement of the environmental impact through ecological products; the product life cycle, and the consequences of climate change. The implementation of CE policies will contribute to making economies less dependent and unprotected and more competitive. Global research has exhibited an upward trend during the period analyzed and has grown exponentially since 2015, coinciding with the publication of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda.

For decades, non-renewable resources have been the basis of worldwide economic development. The extraction rate of natural resources has increased by 113% since 1990, which has led to overexploitation and generation of vast amounts of waste. For this reason, it is essential that a sustainable development model is adopted—one which makes it possible to produce more food and energy with fewer fossil fuels, low pollutant gas emissions and minimal solid waste. Certain management policies and approaches, such as the strategy of a circular ecocomy or bioeconomy, are oriented towards sustainable production and consumption. The present study focuses on the importance of intensive horticulture in the Mediterranean region, specifically in the province of Almería (Spain). After having conducted a study of the main crops in this area, it was determined that the waste biomass generated presented strong potential for exploitation. With the proper regulatory framework, which promotes and prioritises the circularity of agricultural waste, there are several opportunities for improving the current waste management model. In the same way, the results of the economic evaluation demonstrate that the alternative of self-management of waste biomass is profitable, specifically from tomato crops. Compost and green fertilizer production also prove to be a key strategy in the transition towards a more circular and sustainable agricultural production model. As for the said transition, government support is vital in terms of carrying out awareness campaigns and training activities and providing financing for Research and Development (R&D).

Due to the process of globalization, companies are obligated to observe corporate social responsibility and best practices from a sustainability approach towards their stakeholders and society. The explicit aim is to determine the relevance of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) and its relationship with sustainability, in order to establish trends and future lines of research. The evolution of global research on this subject has been studied from 2001 to 2018. For this purpose, a bibliometric analysis of 1832 articles has been applied, obtaining results of the scientific productivity of the journals, authors, institutions, and countries that contribute to this research. Evidence shows a growing interest in studying the relationship between socially responsible practices and the dimension of sustainability. The main category is Business, Management, and Accounting. The most productive journals are the Journal of Business Ethics and Sustainability. The authors with the most articles are García-Sánchez, Moneva, and Moratis, while Kolk is the most cited. The most prolific institution is the University of Salamanca. The United States is the country with the most publications and quotes. France and China are the countries with the largest number of international collaborations in their work. Global research has been on an upward trend with optimal publication rates in recent years.