The Cultural Factor in Rural Development Programmes: Bibliometric Analysis and Visualization

1. Introduction

The common agricultural policy (CAP) of the EU is a political tool that controls how financial aid is distributed across the EU, mostly to agricultural producers (Lillemets, Fertő, and Viira 2022). From the onset in 1957 the main aims of the CAP were to increase agricultural productivity, ensure a fair standard of living for farmers and assure availability of supplies at fair prices (Stead 2008). The major goals of the CAP throughout the next thirty years were to keep market prices high by means of target prices, import tariffs, market intervention, and export subsidies. International trade imbalances thus sparked disputes between countries, agricultural production quickly outpaced domestic demand, larger farms were given most of the income support, and intensive farming—which was supported by high commodity prices—had detrimental externalities on the environment. These issues led to an ongoing reform process that started in 1992 with the MacSharry reform, which started to gradually replace market support with direct payments. The two Pillars that comprise the CAP are said to have existed since the Agenda 2000 revision. The first pillar consists of direct payments and market assistance, in addition the second pillar consists of modernization, measures for rural development, and the agriculture environment. Compared to the early socio-structural measures, the socioeconomic measures included in the Agenda 2000 reform had a far broader reach.

Considering agriculture is a sector of the economy driven by the necessity of human survival, it has been and will continue to be one of the main pillars of civilization (Loizou et al. 2019; Juan M Sánchez, Rodríguez, and Espitia 2022). Because of its importance to all countries, the United Nations (UN) even promoted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in 2015. Agriculture is positioned at the core of the sustainability pillars—the environment, economy, and society—according to the Sustainable Development Goals (Paltaki et al. 2021; Rose et al. 2019).

In the context of second pillar support, the European Union has developed to support the region through integrated programs. The higher purpose was to create a living countryside. With the help of local communities and the enhancement of local resources, an area-based and bottom-up approach gained traction as a novel means of generating jobs and businesses in rural areas that are more socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable, improving the quality of life and the rural communities themselves.

With the passage of years and the implementation of various such local development programs, many data that would help to achieve the goal, came under the microscope. One of the things that dominated, and its synergy will be seen in the future, is culture. The essential culture and not the one that will be of interest when and if the important issues of survival are covered (CCRI, ADE S.A, and OIR 2021; Theodosiou et al. 2010).

The growing recognition of the growing number of individuals who feel detached from their cultural roots is an issue of great significance in the realm of governance. It is widely acknowledged that this situation is not beneficial for either the society as a whole or the individuals who feel excluded. A healthy and sustainable society requires cultural vitality, just as it does social justice, environmental stewardship, and economic sustainability. To enhance the effectiveness of the planning process, it is recommended that a cultural evaluation framework be integrated into public planning, similar to the frameworks established for social, environmental, and economic impact assessment. In recent years, there has been an increase in proposals for innovative approaches to rural development planning (Pascual and Hawkes 2017).

Culture plays a significant role in regional development, influencing economic outcomes, social progress, and territorial cohesion. The impact of culture on economic development has been a subject of extensive research, with studies showing that cultural diversity and human capital have significant impacts on regional economic. Furthermore, it has been discovered that cultural policy directs regional and local growth, addressing scholarly discussions about policy concerning the creative and cultural sectors based on many economic, cultural, and geographic aspects. Additionally, research has shown how cultural identity affects visitors' perceptions of authenticity, levels of happiness, and loyalty. This suggests that since intangible cultural heritage has such wide cultural and artistic value, it is a perfect match for tourism growth. (Niñerola, -Victòria Sánchez-Rebull, and -Beatriz Hernández-Lara 2019). Furthermore, the influence of cultural determinants on economic performance has been acknowledged as an effective factor for social and economic integration, promoting territorial cohesion and serving as an engine for local development.

Culture significantly affects rural development programs through various mechanisms. Agro-tourism, for instance, plays a crucial role in improving the quality of life and working conditions of rural populations, contributing to the viability of local communities, promoting local traditional products, and preserving cultural heritage Chatzitheodoridis & Kontogeorgos (2020). Additionally, expertise in rural development is influenced by cultural dynamics, as understanding the local cultural context is essential for effective program implementation (Lowe et al. 2019). Moreover, the strengthening of rural development policy as an independent part of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reflects the influence of cultural dynamics and policy on rural development (Erjavec & Erjavec, 2021). Understanding the cultural values and practices of rural communities is essential for the successful implementation of rural development programs. Cultural dynamics influence the design and implementation of sustainable development policies, as culture is a factor that crosscuts through spatial scales, providing transitional corridors for sustainable development (Häyrynen & Hämeenaho, 2020). Therefore, integrating cultural values and practices into rural development programs is crucial for ensuring their effectiveness and sustainability (Lettau et al., 2022).

Integrated development strategies are crucial for achieving sustainable and inclusive outcomes, particularly when considering the cultural dimension. The integration of cultural factors into development strategies is essential for ensuring sustainable development (Keitsch , 2016). This is particularly relevant in the context of urban and spatial planning, where the preservation of cultural landscapes and heritage plays a significant role in sustainable development (Kudumovic 2020, Wardhana & Indradjati 2019). Furthermore, the role of cultural resources in community sustainability has been highlighted, emphasizing the need to integrate culture into local sustainability planning (Duxbury and Sharon Jeannotte 2013). In the context of organizational development, the integration of cultures, work processes, and technologies is essential for strengthening economic performance and increasing an organizations capacity to adapt effectively to its environment (Warzynski 2005). This emphasizes how crucial it is to include cultural factors into organizational initiatives in order to boost capacity and enhance performance. Furthermore, a fully integrated approach across sectors, disciplines, and nations is necessary for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda of Action for Sustainable Development, calling for the development of new strategies that address a variety of actors, such as academia, business, civil society, and regional and global organizations (Shulla et al. 2019). This highlights the need for integrated development strategies that encompass diverse stakeholders and sectors to achieve sustainable development goals. The cultural dimension of sustainability has also been emphasized in the context of post-industrial areas and the promotion of sustainable development (Ćwikla et al. 2020). Additionally, the promotion of sustainable development of cultural assets through improved user perception and space configuration has been identified as a critical strategy (Kalfas et al. 2023; Kalogiannidis et al. 2023). In the context of global business, understanding cultural differences and breaking through invisible boundaries is essential for successful integration and collaboration (Kalogiannidis 2020; Park 2018). This underscores the significance of cultural awareness and integration strategies in the global business environment. In summary, the integration of cultural considerations into development strategies is essential for achieving sustainable and inclusive outcomes. This requires a comprehensive approach that encompasses organizational development, community sustainability, global business, and the implementation of sustainable development goals.

Promoting rural development is one of the primary goals of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). A literature on the active participation of culture in the Common Agricultural Policy has yet to be produced, despite a wealth of scholarly research on the consequences of the CAP on rural areas. The present study aims to measure scientific interest through published scientific studies and papers related to the contribution of culture in the context of European development programs and strategies. The research questions and special objectives of the study are presented in Table 1.

The article is structured as follows: the opening part presents the study's objectives and research questions (RQ), while the second section details the materials and methods. The third section is devoted to a discussion of the bibliometric results and the answers to the research questions. Lastly, the paper concludes with a summary of the main findings.

2. Materials and Methods

The PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guideline, which consists of a checklist of 27 items, was employed as the systematic literature review method in this study to ensure transparent, complete, and accurate reporting. This guideline aims to improve the quality of reporting in systematic reviews and ultimately promote evidence-based decision-making. The PRISMA 2020 statement was created to provide guidance for reporting original systematic reviews, updated systematic reviews, and living systematic reviews (Ertem and Aypay n.d.; Page et al. 2021; Parra-dom and Esteban 2023; Welch et al. 2015). Research has demonstrated that the PRISMA statement has enhanced the comprehensiveness of systematic review reporting; however, it does not address specific issues related to diagnostic test accuracy (Hallinger and Chatpinyakoop 2019). The PRISMA statement has been expanded to emphasize equity in systematic reviews (Bastidas-Orrego et al. 2023; Welch et al. 2015). Ultimately, the PRISMA statement is instrumental in standardizing the reporting of systematic reviews and meta-analyses across various fields, leading to enhanced transparency, reproducibility, and quality of evidence synthesis. Scoping reviews are designed to synthesize evidence and assess the scope of literature on a specific topic. In addition to their primary objectives, scoping reviews can also determine whether a systematic review of the literature is necessary.

2.1. Data Set and inclusion/ exclusion criteria

Durán-Sánchez et al. (2018) and Velasco et al. (2011) examined papers that represented a representative sample of worldwide scientific activity published in scientific journals. As a result, the study did not include documents such as meeting papers, editorials, books, chapters, proceedings, news, or other sorts of content contained in databases. Data were acquired from journal papers indexed in Scopus. This database was chosen based on three criteria:

• contains extensive content.
• possesses robust search capabilities.
• serves as a rich resource for bibliometrics.

Scopus allows users to construct search combinations by selecting a variety of parameters, including keywords, authors, publication date range, and institutions.

Several test searches using different terms were performed to determine the most appropriate search terms. The search to identify the appropriate articles started with the terms (culture) AND (rural) AND (development) AND (programs OR strategies OR pathway OR policy) in the TITLE-ABS-KEY field, and yielded 2303 results on December 6, 2023. However, it was noticed that the term strategies, pathways, or policies were not directly associated with the development programs for culture in rural areas but with other subjects of development and were removed from the documents included in the review. Therefore, studies that did not meet certain criteria were excluded. To minimize the risk of omitting relevant studies, additional test searches were conducted using alternating combinations of terms. In the final search, the terms “culture” AND “rural” AND “development” AND “programs” returned 902 results, all from Scopus platform.

Table 2. Documents obtained from searches in the database.

Search Keywords on (TITLE-ABS-KEY)	Initial Results
“Culture”	2.089.037
“Rural” AND “Development” AND “Programs”	19.603
“Culture” AND “Rural” AND “Development” AND “Programs”	902

Table 2. Documents obtained from searches in the database.

Search Keywords on (TITLE-ABS-KEY)	Initial Results
“Culture”	2.089.037
“Rural” AND “Development” AND “Programs”	19.603
“Culture” AND “Rural” AND “Development” AND “Programs”	902

The search was conducted in English to maximize the number of documents in the dataset on culture in sustainable development. None records removed before screening. The screening of eligible studies was performed in three steps: (i) screening the titles; (ii) screening the abstracts; and (iii) screening the full texts. We have made a concerted effort to ensure that the search terms encompass the wide-ranging scope of the topic, however, there is a possibility that some studies may have been overlooked due to the absence of relevant terms in the search criteria. Only 234 of the 668 papers that were screened and found to be unfit for inclusion were included. The next phase was excluding 73 documents for which the whole text could not be located. A total of 161 full-text papers were evaluated in order to determine whether they qualified for this systematic review. Following a thorough examination of every item through the full-text screening phase to ensure eligibility, 668 articles were ultimately rejected. The reasons for excluding the articles were no relevant (n=11), no European countries (n=119) and no evaluate agricultural policies Simulation (6).

The inclusion criteria specified were document type (limited to articles), language (English), and publication years (1990-2023, December). The articles published before 1990 rejected. The exclusion criteria were used to exclude irrelevant fields. Following a thorough review of the studies for inclusion and exclusion, as well as the removal of duplicates, a total of (n=25) studies were selected for the full review. First, the aforementioned keywords were used to find and get pertinent articles. These publications were then filtered to exclude those that were duplicated or unrelated to the study topic. The articles were then downloaded from their original sources.

Figure 1 makes it clear that not all relevant articles could be located or that the information in some of the articles was inadequate for them to be incorporated into the analysis, even with best efforts. Refinement was done on the data to make sure it was of high quality. Entries with inaccurate keywords, missing information, or inconsistent information—like not providing all the information and bibliometric data—were eliminated. Consequently, an evaluation of 902 articles was produced. A final representation of 161 articles was left for content analysis after publications with comparable research topics or evaluations that overlapped were eliminated throughout the qualifying procedure.

Table 3. Reasons for exclusion.

Table 3. Reasons for exclusion.

The third section of this research focuses on bibliometric analysis, which is a specialized area within digital library science that entails employing statistical methods to analyze bibliographic data (Donthu et al. 2021; Rojas-Sánchez, Palos-Sánchez, and Folgado-Fernández 123AD; Salesa, León, and Moneva 2022). Consequently, a bibliometric analysis that employs keywords enables a thorough examination of the primary subjects of research within a specific domain, as well as the identification of connections at the micro level (Castillo-Vergara, Alvarez-Marin, and Placencio-Hidalgo 2018). The collected data was saved and exported as a plain text file, which was then imported into the Vos Viewer software for the purpose of analyzing and visualizing the results. This study employs evaluative techniques to assess the literature and determine its impact. Science mapping, a fundamental component of bibliometrics, was utilized to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state and development of the discipline (Goyal and Kumar 2020; Guo et al. 2019; Mohammad Saif et al. 2022). There are numerous software programs available for bibliometric analysis, and in this study, the Vos Viewer software (Centre for Science and Technology Studies, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands) was utilized to generate visualization maps.

The software program VOS viewer, which is commonly utilized for the analysis of extensive databases and the display of results through advanced configurations, has been widely embraced in bibliometric analysis across diverse fields. This tool has been applied to visualize and analyze bibliographic data, enabling the detection of trends and evolutionary patterns within specific research domains (Jiménez-García et al. 2020; Liao et al. n.d.; Malapane et al. 2022). Additionally, it has been instrumental in carrying out statistical history analysis, allowing for the identification of prevalent keywords and examination of trends over specific timeframes (Jan van Eck and Waltman 2010; Juan M. Sánchez, Rodríguez, and Espitia 2022). Moreover, VOS viewer has been utilized in scientific bibliometric analyses to investigate research hotspots and trends within specific scientific domains throughout defined periods, providing valuable insights into the progression of research topics and their subsequent outcomes (Nobanee et al. 2021; Tsoulfas et al. 2023; Zhang et al. 2020). Collectively, these references illustrate the extensive utilization of VOS viewer in visualizing and analyzing bibliometric data, emphasizing its importance in comprehending the history and trends of research topics across various disciplines. In this study, we employed VOS viewer to construct the co-authorship and co-citation networks.

3. Results

The analysis's findings are shown in this section. The pertinent research questions are covered in each subsection. A total of 161 publications or reviews were registered for synthesis and analysis in the bibliometric review. Each article's meta-data from the Sco-pus database was saved in a CSV Excel spreadsheet. Author affiliations, sources, document types, titles, abstracts, keywords, references, and citation values were all included in the metadata along with descriptive information like the number of years, regions, and sources. To spread the review's findings, the present research used analysis of social networks, citation analysis, co-citation analysis, and descriptive analysis. These studies were carried out using Vos Viewer, Excel functions, and Scopus Analytic Tools. There are 137 journals that include the 161 papers that were analyzed. Our data collection includes 160 writers who are connected to 163 organizations located in 61 different countries.

3.1. RQ1: What are the current publication trends in terms of time, countries, affiliated institutions, subject area, journals and authors?

3.1.1. Trend of publication in time

Starting with the publication trends, we can see in Figure 2, there is a steady upward increase in publications according to Culture in rural development programs. More researchers focused on culture in the period 1990-2023. There has been an increase in publications, from just one article published in 1990 to 16 articles in 2023.

3.1.2. Documents by country

In this part, we mainly present the country analysis. The country with the most publications regarding culture and agriculture politics is the United States, followed by United Kingdom. Behind United Kingdom is Australia, Canada, India, Indonesia and South Africa. From Europe only two countries show more than 5 research articles, Spain and Italy.

Figure 4. Published documents by country or territory (Compare the document counts for up to 15 countries/territories).

Figure 4. Published documents by country or territory (Compare the document counts for up to 15 countries/territories).

3.1.3. Affiliated institutions

An affiliated search returned a list of institutions with links to documents and a summary of the institutions research areas, collaborations, and publications. Figure 5 shows the top institutions affiliated with the authors of social economics studies. The most active institution working in our subject is University of Putra Malaysia and University Polytechnical of Madrid. The next eight institutions are Stellenbosch University, University of South Africa, London School of Economics and Politics, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz University, Cornell University, Federation University Australia, University of Alaska Fairbanks and University of Kentucky. The results of this Figure shows that there are no boundaries for this subject. Also this worldwide interest show a further gap between the research in the Europe and in other parts of the world.

3.1.4. Documents by subject area

Figure 6 demonstrates how the topic is closely related to business, management, agriculture, humanities, education, and family studies in addition to social and economics. This suggests that the subject matter is multidisciplinary. The paucity of research in other domains, such as development studies, is intriguing. There is still much to learn about the place of culture in the economy. The field of development studies has a fairly small number of publications. Because of the stark differences in socioeconomic status and low levels of literacy, research on this topic is difficult in developing nations.

3.1.5. Publication outlets

The Figure 7 presents the most prominent journals publishing on our subject. Journal of Sociologia Ruralis published two articles on 2019, Rural Society published two articles on 2018 and Plos One have published two articles on 2022. We can see the same results as in the other figures here. There is a lack of studies in culture in agriculture place.

3.2. RQ2: What are the most influential studies and research themes in this domain?

3.2.2. Citation Analysis (influential studies)

The citation count is a metric used to determine the number of times a specific document has been cited within a given time frame. The frequency of citation is widely believed to be an indicator of a document's influence and productivity. Citation analysis is commonly regarded as the most effective method for evaluating the impact of a research publication. To assess the impact of subject articles, VOS Viewer was used to analyze the citation network of 161 articles and identify the most influential articles.

Figure 8 represents culture and politics citation network with the help of Vos viewer. There are no strong relationships between authors. The colored clusters are the most active authors. The same color symbolizes a common field of research.

3.2.3. Keyword analysis (research themes)

Using the VOS Viewer, a formal keyword analysis was conducted to explore the most prevalent themes in 161 research articles. A total of 1073 keywords were identified, and only 55 keywords were found to have at least 4 co-occurrences. The most significant keywords, with an occurrence higher than 9, are presented in the table.

Table 5. Top keywords of financial literacy based on the occurrence.

Table 5. Top keywords of financial literacy based on the occurrence.

The co-occurrence network map of keywords related to the culture and rural development programs (Figure 9) depicts the 55 most frequently utilized keywords. The larger the bubble size, the more often the word has been employed. The color of the keywords signifies the time period in which they emerged. Prior to 2005, the prominent keywords were centered on economics. After 2005, the keyword "culture" gained prominence, followed by "local participation," "rural development," "rural area," and "sustainable development."

3.3. How has the intellectual structure of culture policy research evolved over the years, and what are the current research trends in this domain?

Using "author and journal co-citation analyses," the study examined the conceptual framework of cultural policy research that focused on organisational and administrative dynamics. By examining the similarities between the writers in the literature, author co-citation maps may provide insight into the conceptual framework of the subject matter. Researchers created a co-citation map using VOS viewer to show the commonalities in research across academics (Aristovnik, Ravšelj, and Umek n.d.; Herrera-Franco et al. 2021). According to Small's definition from 1973, co-citation is the regularity with which two articles are referenced jointly in a single paper. This technique is often used in bibliometric research to identify the conceptual framework of the most significant papers within a certain area of study. The closer two papers are related to each other on the basis of their larger study topic, the higher the percentage of co-citation (Culnan, 1987). There are several variations of co-citation analysis, including author, document, and journal co-citation analysis. Each analyzes using matrices of co-citation frequency as the input (Hallinger and Chatpinyakoop 2019).

In Figure 10 it is demonstrated that authors can be used as units of analysis and the cocitations of pairs of authors as the variable that indicates their "distances" from one another to map out a certain area of study, in this instance the information field. The approach is predicated on the idea that two authors have a closer relationship the more times they are referenced together. No strong link emerges from these results. There are still many authors who are not even related to each other.

In Figure 11, Journal co-citation is relevant to collection managers who are in charge of creating core journal lists, choosing journals, and assessing collections for specific research-focused audiences. The examination of journal co-citations has become a popular tool for examining the structure, relationships, and relevance of underlying articles across journals. The figure consists of 9 colored clusters of related subjects. We can see that the relationship between them is weak. The clusters are of Tourism Management, American Journal of Evaluation, Journal of Rural Studies, World Development, Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship and Science. In an apparent long distance is the cluster of Land use Policy and Rural Studied.

4. Discussion

The objective of this systematic review was to assess the current state of knowledge on the role of culture in rural development programs through a bibliometric analysis of 902 Scopus-indexed documents published between 1990 and 2023. It has been observed that there is a scarcity of systematic reviews focusing on direct policies for assessing cultural aspects in rural development. Specifically, the review employed science mapping techniques to identify trends rather than synthesizing research findings. Hence, this review should not be considered a substitute for reviews that evaluate the outcomes of studies within this field of research. It is crucial to note that the review did not encompass all relevant documents on the topic, and the use of the Scopus index may have restricted the representativeness of the findings. However, the scope of the review was broadened using co-citation analysis, which enabled the identification of 'co-cited' documents that were not included in Scopus and helped to mitigate the impact of this limitation.

Subsequently, this bibliographic analysis makes it clear that despite the different research interests expressed in different regions, practical evaluations of the effects of regional programs are still more related to economic problems than to objectives. Predictably, this close link between outcome assessment and economics has important implications for the impartiality, quality, and scope of measuring the impact of the cultural sector on sustainable development.

Cultural activities are those that promote the social values of a society. This promotion effect emphasizes that one of the roles of culture (culture and rural/ sustainable development) is the process of continuous social learning, communication, and behavior. This role enriches people with values so that they are able to interpret the world, interact and act socially by embodying a system of meanings and symbols.

This research emphasizes the importance of another practical guidance for policymakers seeking to incorporate cultural considerations into development initiatives. The cultural ideas must become policies.

5. Conclusions

With the aim of examining the influence of cultural factors on rural development in, this research is particularly pertinent, as it addresses a crucial, hitherto unexplored theme within the realm of related policies and their classification.

In terms of planning policy proposals, a different approach could be proposed, based on the results of this research. Although evidence is presented regarding cultural in collective social development, such as methodological limitations. Most studies focus on the individual outcomes of political activities rather than sustainable collective outcomes. They tend to simply report correlations between activities and sustainable development. Scientists, in this research, usually point out the relationship between different variables, but not significant links between them. If theses methodological challenges are put to the right footing and used, then we will be able to explain the reasons why policies insist on economic considerations. And this will of course be achieved in the context of cooperation with other factors such as economic science, but also the need for communication, information, support of the positive effects of the culture sector on regional development.

Another proposal could be aimed at the economic sector. To encourage investment and scientific interest in cultural matters, development policies for local programs could mandate a specific percentage of investments in this area. This approach would promote the growth of cultural initiatives and contribute to the overall development of the local community.

Our analysis is subject to various constraints, one of which is that keywords in a survey do not always offer the most comprehensive understanding of how policies can be socially constructed. Other limitation was the no access to other databases than Scopus. Last but most important was the challenge of not getting out of such a multiple “translated” topic.