Trends and challenges in the evaluation of agricultural research impact: a systematic literature review

Resumen

This work aimed to conduct a systematic literature review on the evaluation of agricultural research impact, seeking to answer the question: “What have been the predominant themes, methodologies, and trends of evaluation studies on the agricultural research impact over time?” In order to do so, a textual data analysis was applied using natural language processing (NLP) techniques, such as tokenization and topic modeling. The analysis of 239 studies from 1969 to 2022 identified some thematic groups (climate change and food security, technology adoption, challenges in developing countries, sustainable agricultural practices, and poverty reduction) and 73 methodologies (methodological approaches, methods, and techniques). An increasing thematic focus was also observed on sustainability, resource management, and social impacts. The use of multiple methodologies within the same study grew in the 2000s. Although quantitative approaches have been the most frequently used in those studies, the findings show an emerging balance between qualitative and quantitative approaches, as well as a growing adoption of mixed methods.