Abstract
<title>Abstract</title> <p> Global agricultural systems are under growing pressure to maintain food production while reducing environmental harm. Fertilizers sit at the center of this challenge: they're essential for crop productivity, yet they continue to raise sustainability concerns across several environmental dimensions. While much of the current discourse has focused on carbon emissions and climate change mitigation, nitrogen-related risks, including nitrate leaching, groundwater contamination, eutrophication, and nutrient-use inefficiency, remain significant and often overlooked. This study examines how prominently nitrogen-, carbon-, sustainability-, and policy-related concepts feature within the fertilizer sustainability literature. A dataset of 100 peer-reviewed publications spanning 1984 to 2026, sourced from <bold>Scopus</bold> and <bold>Google Scholar</bold> databases and retrieved from <bold>ScienceDirect, MDPI, SpringerLink, and Wiley</bold> , was analyzed using bibliometric and text-mining techniques, including keyword frequency analysis, dominance classification, co-occurrence network analysis, thematic mapping, and regression modeling. The results show 223 nitrogen-related mentions compared with just 43 carbon-related mentions, giving a nitrogen-to-carbon ratio of 5.19:1. Of the publications analyzed, 53 were nitrogen-dominant, 40 showed balanced attention to both themes, and only 7 were carbon-dominant. Food security, sustainability frameworks, carbon and climate, nitrogen leaching, nitrogen-use efficiency, and water quality emerged as the most prominent research themes. However, despite this strong focus on nitrogen, policy-related terminology appeared only 58 times across the dataset, and the relationship between nitrogen-related and policy-related terminology was weak (R² = 0.053). This suggests that scientific attention to nitrogen-related environmental challenges has not been matched by equivalent engagement with governance and policy responses. These findings point to a need for fertilizer sustainability frameworks that move beyond carbon-centered approaches and incorporate more robust nitrogen management and policy mechanisms. </p>