AGRI-01 Observatory – Agricultural and food economics and rural appraisal
07/AGRI-01 — Agricultural and Food Economics and Rural Appraisal

Livestock and animal welfare

Research topic of the field
368
publications
9,159
citations
243
researchers
41
institutions
68%
in Q1 journals
The topics most often intertwined with this one, year by year

The topic studies the economics of livestock farming, mainly dairy and beef, and animal welfare. It asks how much citizens and consumers care about animal welfare and how much they will pay for products with better standards, and how farmers adopt new practices and technologies. It also studies the environmental impact of livestock through carbon footprints and environmental efficiency. Recent research looks at the future of livestock in a sustainable food system, demand for low-footprint beef, precision livestock farming, policies against antimicrobial resistance and the comparison with alternative proteins.

Description written by AI from the keywords, journals, most-cited works and recent works of the topic.

01
Indicators
Output and impact
196
publications since 2021
100
publications 2016–2020
+96%
compared with 2016–2020
21%
share signed by the most active 5%

The last share tells how far the topic passes through few hands: in the field it ranges from 12% to 39%. 21% means that the topic has some reference groups but remains widespread. Signatures are counted, not papers: an article with four authors on the topic weighs four times, because the question is how much of the work passes through few people.

Trend over time and quality of outlets

Documents and citations per year

documentscitations received
502,000381,500251,00013500002006: 5 documents20062008: 3 documents20082009: 2 documents2010: 6 documents20102011: 5 documents2012: 6 documents20122013: 11 documents2014: 15 documents20142015: 14 documents2016: 18 documents20162017: 18 documents2018: 19 documents20182019: 18 documents2020: 27 documents20202021: 34 documents2022: 27 documents20222023: 31 documents2024: 32 documents20242025: 32 documents20252006: 1 citations received2007: 5 citations received2008: 13 citations received2009: 16 citations received2010: 28 citations received2011: 44 citations received2012: 48 citations received2013: 62 citations received2014: 88 citations received2015: 143 citations received2016: 212 citations received2017: 301 citations received2018: 413 citations received2019: 520 citations received2020: 620 citations received2021: 839 citations received2022: 930 citations received2023: 1,001 citations received2024: 1,109 citations received2025: 1,274 citations received
Citations received each year by papers on the topic.

Journal quartiles (SJR · SCImago)

348with SJR
Q1 238 (68%)
Q2 62 (18%)
Q3 29 (8%)
Q4 19 (5%)

Attention in the last three years

−8%
citations received, relative to the field
+5%
papers published, relative to the field
3,384
citations received 2023–2025

The topic is in line with the field: citations received by its papers went from 2,389 (2020–2022) to 3,384 (2023–2025), while those of the whole field grew 1.55 times. Citations received in those years by all papers on the topic are counted, including older ones.

Who leads the topic in the last three years

  • Vincenzina Caputo · Enti stranieri · 335 citations received 2023–2025 from papers on the topic
  • Valentina Maria Merlino · TORINO · 276 citations received 2023–2025 from papers on the topic
  • Luca Alfonso Panzone · Enti stranieri · 269 citations received 2023–2025 from papers on the topic
  • Raffaele Zanoli · Politecnica delle MARCHE · 184 citations received 2023–2025 from papers on the topic
  • Simona Naspetti · Politecnica delle MARCHE · 171 citations received 2023–2025 from papers on the topic
02
People
Who works on it

Most active researchers on the topic

By papers on the topic. The last column still shows specialisation, to tell apart those who work on it a lot in absolute terms from those who work on it above all.

NameInstitutionPapers on the topich-indexSpecialisation
Valentina Maria Merlino Università degli Studi di Torino 26 23
7.44
Stefano Massaglia Università degli Studi di Torino 15 22
5.22
Danielle Borra Università degli Studi di Torino 14 17
6.65
Rocco Roma Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro 13 22
4.59
Vincenzina Caputo Foreign institutions 13 35
3.56
Eugenio Demartini Università degli Studi di Milano 12 23
5.38
Riccardo Scarpa Università degli Studi di Verona 10 53
1.64
Biancamaria Torquati Università degli Studi di Perugia 10 17
4.83
Raffaele Zanoli Università Politecnica delle Marche 10 31
2.47
Simone Blanc Università degli Studi di Torino 9 22
2.41
Maria Elena Marescotti Università degli Studi di Milano 9 13
8.00
Simona Naspetti Università Politecnica delle Marche 9 24
3.81
Jorgelina Di Pasquale Università degli Studi di Teramo 8 14
7.04
Roberto Furesi Università degli Studi di Sassari 8 13
5.71
Anna Antonia Maria Gaviglio Università degli Studi di Milano 8 23
3.58

Who is most specialised in this topic

Not those who published the most on it, but those who devote the largest share of their output to it compared with the field average. Above 1 there is specialisation; the tick marks parity. Researchers with fewer than three papers on the topic are excluded.

NameInstitutionPapers on the topicSpecialisation
Maria Elena Marescotti Università degli Studi di Milano 9
8.00
Valentina Maria Merlino Università degli Studi di Torino 26
7.44
Jorgelina Di Pasquale Università degli Studi di Teramo 8
7.04
Danielle Borra Università degli Studi di Torino 14
6.65
Roberto Furesi Università degli Studi di Sassari 8
5.71
Eugenio Demartini Università degli Studi di Milano 12
5.38
Stefano Massaglia Università degli Studi di Torino 15
5.22
Biancamaria Torquati Università degli Studi di Perugia 10
4.83
Rocco Roma Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro 13
4.59
Simona Naspetti Università Politecnica delle Marche 9
3.81

Most active institutions

The number tells how much work on the topic comes from each institution; specialisation tells how much the topic weighs within the institution compared with the field average. A small, focused institution can be more specialised than a large one that does everything.

InstitutionPapers on the topicSpecialisation
Università degli Studi di Torino 74
2.61
Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna 49
0.82
Università degli Studi di Perugia 47
2.55
Università degli Studi di Catania 45
0.66
Università degli Studi di Milano 45
1.38
Università Politecnica delle Marche 39
2.17
Foreign institutions 37
1.06
Università degli Studi di Foggia 37
1.31
Università degli Studi di Parma 37
1.91
Università degli Studi di Sassari 28
1.93
03
Where
In Italy and worldwide

Institutions in Italy

40institutions of the field work on the topic (with at least one paper)
  1. Bologna34
  2. Torino (Grugliasco)30
  3. Milano25
  4. Perugia25
  5. Parma21
  6. Foggia20
  7. Bari19
  8. Padova (Legnaro)19
32 more institutions on the map · circles proportional to papers on the topic

International collaboration

    04
    Research
    Topics, journals and publications

    Related topics

    The topics that most often appear in the same papers. The number is the papers in common.

    Consumer behaviour · 87 Sustainability assessment · 50 Governance and institutions · 48 Life cycle assessment · 35 Willingness to pay · 34 Choice experiments · 33

    Recurring keywords

    animal welfaresustainabilitychoice experimentlivestockwillingness to paymilkconsumer preferencebeefconsumer behaviorconsumerdairylife cycle assessmentdairy cattlecluster analysisdairy farmingcarbon footprintcommon agricultural policydairy sectorpoultrydairy productinnovationlivestock farmingmilk productionorganic farming

    Main journals

    Most cited publications on the topic

    Explore the Observatory → All topics