THE INTELLECTUAL ARCHITECTURE OF THE BIOCEANIC ROUTE: A BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF SOUTH AMERICAN INTEGRATION (2012–2025)

As the Bioceanic Route (RILA) transitions from a logistical concept to a physical reality, academic interest has undergone a corresponding transformation. This study presents a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of 75 records retrieved from the SciELO Citation Index between 2012 and 2025. The findings reveal a dramatic research inflection point in 2019, marking the onset of an “explosive growth” phase in which 73% of the total output was generated. Despite the international nature of the corridor, the academic landscape exhibits a profound geographic asymmetry, with Brazilian institutions contributing 85,7% of the scientific production. Through keyword clustering, four primary research streams were identified: (1) Tourism and Economic Development; (2) Geopolitical Integration; (3) Sociocultural Impacts; and (4) Geographic Case Studies. The analysis further identified critical gaps in environmental impact assessments and technical engineering studies, as well as a significant “synthesis gap” due to the scarcity of review articles. Finally, the paper proposes a strategic roadmap for multinational scientific integration to match the corridor’s physical advancement.