Tracing Forty Years of Research on the Bhopal Gas Tragedy: Trends, Themes, and Future Directions

The Bhopal Gas Tragedy stands as a defining moment in the history of industrial disasters, prompting ongoing global discourse on public health, environmental safety, and corporate accountability. This study aims to systematically map and evaluate the scholarly landscape related to the Bhopal Gas Tragedy over a forty-year period (1984–2024), offering a longitudinal perspective on the evolution, diffusion, and thematic transformation of research in this critical area. A total of 301 records were retrieved from Scopus and Web of Science databases and analysed using the Bibliometrix R-package. The analysis focused on publication trends, citation metrics, authorship patterns, international collaborations, and thematic structures through keyword co-occurrence and conceptual mapping. The analysis covers documents published across 218 diverse sources, reflecting a steady annual growth rate of 7.64% and underscoring sustained academic interest. Research output is primarily concentrated in core journals dedicated to industrial safety, environmental protection, and public health, with author productivity patterns revealing a balance between single-authored works and collaborative efforts, though international co-authorship remains relatively low at 6.31%. Thematic evolution showcases a shift from early technical assessments to broader concerns involving environmental justice, public health resilience, and disaster governance. Network and factorial analyses uncover well-defined, interconnected clusters addressing institutional frameworks, chemical exposure, biomedical outcomes, and public health dimensions, emphasizing the field’s interdisciplinary nature. This bibliometric study not only consolidates decades of research on the Bhopal disaster but also identifies underexplored themes and collaboration gaps, offering a foundation for future scholarship on industrial risk, systemic resilience, and sustainable policy frameworks.