THE «ONE BELT, ONE ROAD» INITIATIVE AND KAZAKHSTAN–CHINA RELATIONS: A BIBLIOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS

Abstract

            This study conducts a systematic bibliographic analysis of scholarly literature addressing the Belt and Road Initiative within the framework of Kazakhstan–China relations, to identify dominant thematic trajectories, methodological orientations, and regional contributions. Utilizing the Scopus database and adhering to the PRISMA protocol for transparent selection, a corpus of 179 peer-reviewed journal articles published between 2013 and 2025 was extracted and analyzed. Bibliometric visualization was carried out using VOSviewer to map co-occurrence patterns and intellectual structures across the field. The findings reveal four principal thematic clusters: infrastructural and regional integration, geopolitical strategy, international political theory, and environmental and peripheral concerns. The analysis underscores an uneven global distribution of academic production, with notable dominance by Chinese and Western institutions and relative underrepresentation of Central Asian scholarly voices. While the literature exhibits growing interdisciplinarity and conceptual diversification, significant gaps persist, particularly regarding localized perspectives, socio-environmental implications, and institutional asymmetries. The study contributes to meta-research in international relations and development studies by offering an empirically grounded assessment of how academic discourse on the BRI and Kazakhstan–China engagement has evolved over time and across disciplinary boundaries.