A bibliometric study of research trends in cross-border cybercrime

Abstract

As digital technology prevails in crimes, academic insights have expanded to diverse issues related to cybercrimes both in China and abroad. Various jurisdictions have made efforts to get cybercrime under control, in particular, fighting against the misuse of emerging technologies in cybercrimes. In the context of cross-border cybercrime, putting one region’s criminal growth down could not live without cross-border or cross-sector cooperation. With such understanding, this paper aims to conduct a comparative study of cross-border cybercrime publications to see the research trends from the divergence and convergence of academic studies inside and outside China. Specifically, using CiteSpace (6.2.R6), this study presents an extensive bibliometric analysis of cross-border cybercrime research published during the past three decades in Web of Science Core Collections and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI). The findings indicate the typical features of publications in different phases. Among others, the keywords analysis including cluster mapping and strongest burst reveals the research trend, which indicates that cross-border cybercrime is featured as possessing a complete industrial chain of online black market, with increasing application of high-tech tools and more connection with illicit financial flow. This study also examines barriers and touches upon the implications in the efficient fight against cross-border cybercrime, as well as the existing approaches like public-private partnership, mutual legal assistance and police cooperation, and global pathways to reducing conflicts among jurisdictions.