Mapping Recent Research Trends in Container Ports Engineering, Operations and Management: A Bibliometric Analysis

Container ports play a central role in international trade, and their performance increasingly depends on integrated operational and managerial strategies. Although research on container ports has expanded over time, existing studies remain fragmented across engineering, operations, and management perspectives. Moreover, prior bibliometric reviews largely emphasize descriptive trend mapping, offering limited insight into the structural imbalances and strategic implications shaping the evolution of the field. Using the Scopus database as the primary data source, a dataset of 1,529 publications published between 2015 and 2026 was analyzed. Unlike previous reviews, this study integrates performance analysis, thematic evolution, and conceptual structure mapping to provide a unified perspective on the intellectual structure of container ports engineering, operations, and management. The analysis was conducted using the bibliometrix package and the Biblioshiny interface in R, examining publication dynamics, leading journals and authors, collaboration networks, keyword co-occurrence, and dominant thematic clusters. The results reveal a clear structural shift in container terminal research around 2020, moving from traditional optimization approaches toward data-driven and automation oriented methods. Advanced techniques such as integer programming and reinforcement learning now dominate, while governance, sustainability, and human centered management remain underrepresented, reflecting a persistent imbalance. This study contributes by providing a critical and integrative perspective on the field’s intellectual structure, highlighting both dominant trends and neglected dimensions. However, the analysis is limited to the Scopus database and relies on bibliometric methods that may overlook contextual depth. Future research should adopt mixed approaches and focus on interdisciplinary, governance, and sustainability aspects to enhance the relevance and applicability of findings across diverse port contexts.