The development of blockchain technology in manufacturing: A bibliometric analysis

Abstract

Many manufacturing organizations have adapted their governance systems, strategies, business models, and strategic processes in the "New Normal" and technologies like Blockchains have irreversibly transformed how people live and work. Despite extensive scholarly research, analysing emerging trends in Blockchain research remains critical. Unfortunately, the use of bibliometric analysis to study Blockchain has been limited, with little understanding of how its various research areas are progressing. Bibliometric analysis, a useful method for examining the development of research, has not been widely used in the context of blockchain. The progression of its numerous research areas is also yet unknown. This study seeks to fill these gaps by employing bibliometric analysis to assess scientific progress and research focus on Blockchains in manufacturing. We used Vos Viewer to conduct this bibliometric analysis to evaluate 265 papers published from 2017 to 2022 using co-authorship and co-occurrence of keywords analysis. We have identified the most productive authors, institutions, countries, and top research fields, highlighting the essential advancements in the Blockchain field. The findings demonstrate how keywords related to Blockchain have changed over time and describe the research hotspots. The originality of this research lies in its application of bibliometric analysis to examine the development and emerging trends in Blockchain research within the manufacturing domain while offering novel insights into the productivity of authors, institutions, and countries, as well as identifying research hotspots and future research directions. This study contributes to the inadequate body of literature on bibliometric analysis in Blockchain research and provides useful guidance for researchers and practitioners in the field.