Mapping the knowledge domain of blockchain technology studies
Jay Daniel, Andrew Stapleton · 2024
Blockchains have disrupted and revolutionized processes and transactions across the globe. This study evaluates research trends, performance, and state-of-the-art literature through bibliometric and scientometric analyses in blockchain field. The combined methodology reveals systematic patterns, characterizing publications, cooperation networks between countries, highly cited works, co-occurrence of sources, technology categories, co-citation networks, prominent keywords, and main countries engaged in blockchain research. The findings demonstrate hot topics, and emerging trends recognized in this research encompass blockchain and security, smart contracts, challenges, privacy, management, the Internet of Things (IoT), Bitcoin, framework development, and supply chain management. Blockchain technology poses several challenges, including issues related to data protection and privacy, the seamless interoperability and integration of IoT and other digital technologies with blockchain, the sustainability of supply chains, and the assurance of transparency and traceability in products and services. Furthermore, solving scalability issues remains a paramount concern within the blockchain domain. Future research efforts should prioritize addressing these challenges to pave the way for transparent and sustainable communities, industries, and societies. This review can aid both practitioners and academics in gaining a deeper understanding of the current state of blockchain technology and identifying potential avenues for future research.