Comprehensive three-phase bibliometric assessment on the blockchain (2012–2020)

Abstract

PurposeThe research work provides a comprehensive bibliometric analysis on blockchain in general and with respect to trust and reputation management in particular. The research work also incorporates the research progress in Pakistan in the field of blockchain.Design/methodology/approachThe research study is conducted in three phases in which 9 different research questions are assessed for the time duration of 2012–2020 on a total of 9,314 published studies. The source of the research study is from one of the most prestigious databases, the Web of Science (WoS). The scholarly publication includes analysis on WoS categories, annual publication trends, types of documents, research areas, and collaboration network amongst countries, co-word analysis, top 10 countries and top 10 organizations with respect to research publications. The authors use VOSviewer tool to generate collaboration network of countries and co-occurrence network for co-word analysis. The connecting thread among the research question is the overarching research objective of exploring and understanding research out in blockchain. The authors have conducted the research in three phases. Phase 1 is planned to show various quantitative analysis of blockchain worldwide with respect to all 9 questions. In Phase II, prime importance is being given to the trust and reputation management aspect of blockchain. Phase III is concerned with the findings of 9 research questions with Pakistan as the ultimate focus.FindingsMajor findings include that China and the USA are the leading countries as they have contributed the most in research field of blockchain. Computer science emerged as the leading research area. The first research article dates back to 2013 with significant rise in publication trend over the last 4 years from 2017–2020. Trust management emerged as one of the key fields where blockchain plays a pivotal role. Pakistan occupies a position in top 20 countries with respect to research contribution. However, in order to rank amongst top 10 research countries, Pakistan needs rapid technological advancement. The immense rise in research publication trend in Pakistan from the year 2019–2020 as compared to prior 2019 era indicates that due focus is being given in the field of blockchain in Pakistan since the last two years.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors have considered WoS data source. Therefore, the study is limited to those published scholarly studies which are present in WoS database. More detailed assessment can be performed by analyzing other data resources. The authors have performed analysis based on 9 research questions. However, other parameters can also be included to perform more enhanced and detailed analysis. All types of documents are included in our research work including secondary studies also. However, some authors might not prefer to include all types of documents.Practical implicationsThe paper includes implications for the development of trust and reputation management area of blockchain.Originality/valueThe bibliometric analysis is worthy for scholars, researchers and students to help them make better decision in the field of blockchain with respect to various parameters. The study also serves as a motivating factor to conduct research in the area of blockchain with any language as a medium of research.

Editorial: Special selection on contemporary bibliometric analytics

“…The first group of papers in this special selection focused on bibliometric analyses of the latest information technologies, including blockchain, cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI). Alam et al (2023) conducted a bibliometric analysis of blockchain research in Pakistan using data from the Web of Science (WoS) using the VOSviewer tool to generate a collaboration network of countries and co-occurrence network for co-word analysis, using a three-phase analysis. They presented the implications for developing blockchain's trust and reputation management area.…”

Editorial: Special selection on bibliometrics and literature review

“…Beg et al (2022) used a systematic literature review (SLR) to provide the viewpoint of privacy and security concerns mentioned in the current state-of-the-art mobile app recommendation domain. Readers may also be interested in a bibliometric review of cloud computing by Awan and Abbas (2022), Bitcoin by Shen et al (2021), blockchain by Alam et al (2022), 5th generation mobile communication technology by Farooqui et al (2021), innovation convergence by Cui et al (2022) and ecopreneurship by Guleria and Kaur (2021).…”

A Comprehensive Bibliometric Assessment on Software Testing (2016–2021)

“…The frequency of collaboration varies widely according to the scientific topic and discipline. Collaboration is very crucial for quality and timely research study in any field [23]. We used VOSviewer to conduct our study survey because it allows us to examine collaborative networks between countries.…”

“…Co-word analysis is the method that is used to see the pattern of co-occurrence of keywords in a dataset [35]. Co-word analysis signifies the connections between the articles based on the occurrence of the keyword [23]. Figures 12 and 14 We have used the full counting method to create a keywords co-occurrence map.…”

“…The approach of showing and comparing numerous quantifiable facts required for studying evaluation is known as bibliometric assessment [22,23]. Scholars, researchers, and students can benefit from bibliometric analysis by using it to make better decisions in their respective fields based on various characteristics and by using it to spur additional research in areas where it is needed.…”