Emerging trends and collaboration patterns unveil the scientific production in blockchain technology: A bibliometric and network analysis from 2014-2020

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the growth, collaboration patterns, and thematic trends in blockchain research from 2014 to 2020 using bibliometric and network analysis of 6790 publications, highlighting open access impact and country contributions.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive bibliometric and network analysis of blockchain literature, revealing collaboration patterns, thematic focuses, and the influence of open access publications.

Findings

Open access publications increased 1.5 times in 2020.

China and the USA lead in blockchain research.

Most authors work in small teams and contribute to multiple papers.

Abstract

Significant attention in the financial industry has paved the way for blockchain technology to spread across other industries, resulting in a plethora of literature on the subject. This study approaches the subject through bibliometrics and network analysis of 6790 records extracted from the Web of Science from 2014-2020 based on blockchain. This study asserts (i) the impact of open access publication on the growth and visibility of literature, (ii) the collaboration patterns and impact of team size on collaboration, (iii) the ranking of countries based on their national and international collaboration, and (iv) the major themes in the literature through thematic analysis. Based on the significant momentum gained by the blockchain, the trend of open access publications has increased 1.5 times than no open access in 2020. This analysis articulates the numerous potentials of blockchain literature and its adoption by various countries and their authors. China and the USA are the top leaders in the field and applied blockchain more with smart contracts, supply chain, and internet of things. Also, results show that blockchain has attracted the attention of less than 1% of authors who have contributed to multiple works on the blockchain and authors also preferred to work in teams smaller in size.