A Bibliometric Analysis of Blockchain Research in Supply Chain Management

Abstract

Blockchain technology has garnered increasing research attention because of its potential to transform supply chain management (SCM) through enhanced transparency, security, and efficiency. This study performed a bibliometric analysis of the emerging body of literature on the intersection of blockchain technology and SCM to elucidate the intellectual structure, knowledge diffusion patterns, and research trajectories within this field. A dataset of 2,500 English-language articles published between 2020-2023 was retrieved from Dimensions and analyzed using VOSviewer and Bibliometrix. The findings revealed that the research landscape focused predominantly on technical topics grounded in computer science, with an emerging interest in supply chain applications. Bibliographic coupling revealed clusters of literature on core blockchain development, implementation challenges, and healthcare use cases. The citation analysis identified influential contributors and geographic concentrations of research productivity in China and East Asia. While currently anchored in technical disciplines, blockchain-SCM research displays a burgeoning interdisciplinarity. This study provides a multidimensional perspective on the topography and evolution of this rapidly developing domain. These insights will orient scholars and practitioners to high-impact contributions and productive directions for future blockchain integration in SCM contexts.