Exploring the research landscape of Hydrogen Valleys: A bibliometric analysis

Abstract

The Hydrogen Valleys concept is growing in importance in the political landscape. Numerous national strategies dedicated to hydrogen, published internationally in recent years, recognize its advantages. The article aimed to check the scale of researchers' and scientists' interest in this topic, especially in relation to the importance and significance attached to this concept by policymakers. The study used the bibliographic method. In the first stage of the study, papers that contained the term 'hydrogen valleys' in the title, abstract or keywords were selected from the publications available in the Web of Science (WoS) database. A quantitative analysis of the collected publications was carried out in the second phase. The third stage focused on an in-depth content analysis of the publications. Bibliographic research was conducted using VOSviewer software. The WoS database identified only 284 publications dealing with hydrogen valleys. There is a systematic increase in the number of cited papers. However, the research result shows that the most frequently cited publications are studies presenting different types of technological solutions and concepts. The study indicates the existence of a significant research gap in the field of research on the creation and development of Hydrogen Valleys. Despite the growing interest in creating and operating hydrogen valleys, it can be assumed that this is still an under-explored area in the literature, especially in economic and social research. Authors' interest in publishing in this area is expected to increase with the development of hydrogen technologies in the coming years.