Bibliometric Mapping of Circular Economy Principles in Industrial Contexts: Pathways to the Green Transition

Shifting from a linear to a circular economy changes how industries work. This change aims to improve sustainability and use resources more efficiently. Industries can reduce their environmental impacts by changing the way they design, use, and dispose of products. Organizational barriers can slow down the adoption process. These include a lack of understanding among employees, training needs, and outdated routines. This problem arises even when companies operate in ecosystems with many stakeholders. These new environments need innovative business models and teamwork. This study analyzes the principles of the circular economy (CE) in industry. It also examines how these principles relate to green transitions. A bibliometric analysis of Web of Science records was performed for the years 2018-2025 (n=2,558). In addition, we examined the 200 most-cited papers in a study using VOSviewer (v 1.6.20). This involved examining the citation network in the documents and mapping keyword co-occurrence, accompanied by a qualitative interpretation of the clusters. The results highlight key areas of research. These include: extending the lifespan of products through repair, reuse, remanufacturing, and product-service systems; closed-loop and reverse supply chains based on digital technologies such as IoT, AI, and blockchain; industrial symbiosis networks; policy- and indicator-based guidelines using LCA, MFA, EE-IO models; and circularity indices. The document highlights existing gaps in monitoring and governance that prevent the large-scale, sector-specific implementation of the circular economy. Future research should strengthen the evidence linking digitalization to circular performance. It should also develop clear indicators that link companies’ actions to broader-scale outcomes and trade-offs.