Scientific knowledge production of blockchain: A bibliometric and lexicometric review

TL;DR

This paper provides a comprehensive bibliometric and lexicometric analysis of blockchain research, revealing its multidisciplinary nature, evolution, and epistemic boundaries to guide future development.

Contribution

It offers the first combined bibliometric and lexicometric review of blockchain literature, mapping its knowledge evolution and identifying core epistemic communities.

Findings

Blockchain research is multidisciplinary, involving four major disciplines.

The field is maturing with increasing technological infrastructure focus.

Blockchain functions more as a boundary object than a disruptive innovation.

Abstract

While recent reviews of blockchain technology have focused on the latest developments in cryptocurrency and their derivative impacts, less attention has been given to analysing their knowledge paths and boundaries based on past research to guide their development. To address this gap, we conducted both a bibliometric study of 2525 articles and a lexicometric study of 123 articles. The bibliometric study provided holistic insights into the evolution and distribution of blockchain research, including influential researchers and countries, discipline composition, knowledge development trends, and emerging frontiers. The lexicometric study identified the boundary concept structure with a quantitative textual approach, extracting the strongest signifying epistemic communities. Our findings indicate that blockchain research draws from four major disciplines, making it a multidisciplinary field. With the increasing maturity and development of technological infrastructure, the application and management of blockchain become increasingly relevant issues. Our analysis suggests that blockchain can be considered more of a boundary object than a disruptive change from knowledge perspectives. Therefore, this paper proposes a comprehensive understanding of the development path and epistemic concepts of blockchain research.