Blockchain Research Research Articles

A Decade in Blockchain: A Bibliometric Reflection on the Growth and Interdisciplinary Reach of a Disruptive Technology

This study seeks to deliver a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of blockchain research undertaken from 2013 to 2023. It seeks to map the field’s evolution, highlight emerging trends, and identify key contributors and thematic areas. Understanding these aspects is crucial for guiding future research and policymaking in the rapidly growing domain of blockchain technology. The study utilises a systematic bibliometric analysis approach and the Scopus database was used for collecting data. The analysis includes keyword trends, citation patterns, author productivity, and network analysis. The results reveal significant expansion and diversification in blockchain research, with 13,369 publications and 52,009 contributing authors. Key metrics include a total citation count of 266,483 and an average of 19.93 citations per paper, underscoring the field’s scholarly impact. The study identifies core research themes such as smart contracts, security, IoT integration, and emerging topics like AI and sustainability. The findings highlight the interdisciplinary nature of blockchain research and its global distribution, with notable contributions from China and the United States. The study’s reliance on selected databases and predefined keywords may exclude relevant grey literature and industry reports. Future research should integrate these sources for a more complete view. This study provides a panoramic view of blockchain research, offering valuable insights into its development, current state, and future directions. Identifying key trends, influential contributors, and emerging themes contributes to the academic discourse and supports strategic planning for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers engaged in blockchain technology.

How does blockchain-based food traceability system drive consumers’ repurchase and word-of-mouth intentions toward organic food: a curvilinear role of producer-retailer (in)congruence

PurposeThis research applies the stimulus-organism-behavior-consequence framework to explore how blockchain-enabled traceability influences trust in organic food producers and retailers, which impacts consumers’ purchase behaviors and subsequent outcomes.Design/methodology/approachUsing a purposive sample of 5,326 Vietnamese consumers, multiple linear and polynomial regression with response surface analysis were employed to examine the hypotheses.FindingsBlockchain-enabled traceability significantly enhances trust in both producers and retailers, which congruently and incongruently influences organic food purchase behaviors. This behavior also drives consumers’ word-of-mouth and repurchase intentions. Serial mediation analysis confirms blockchain’s impact through trust and purchase behaviors.Research limitations/implicationsStakeholders should adopt blockchain to boost transparency and trust, which increases consumer engagement. Policymakers can support this transition through regulations and incentives to enhance food security and sustainability.Originality/valueThis study expands on blockchain research by applying the stimulus-organism-behavior-consequence framework in the organic food supply chain, showing how blockchain-enhanced trust synergistically affects consumers’ purchase behaviors, word-of-mouth and repurchase intentions.

Blockchain Consensus Mechanisms: A Bibliometric Analysis (2014–2024) Using VOSviewer and R Bibliometrix

Blockchain consensus mechanisms play a critical role in ensuring the security, decentralization, and integrity of distributed networks. As blockchain technology expands beyond cryptocurrencies into broader applications such as supply chain management and healthcare, the importance of efficient and scalable consensus algorithms has grown significantly. This study provides a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of blockchain and consensus mechanism research from 2014 to 2024, using tools such as VOSviewer and R’s Bibliometrix package. The analysis traces the evolution from foundational mechanisms like Proof of ork (PoW) to more advanced models such as Proof of Stake (PoS) and Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT), with particular emphasis on Ethereum’s “The Merge” in 2022, which marked the historic shift from PoW to PoS. Key findings highlight emerging themes, including scalability, security, and the integration of blockchain with state-of-the-art technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and energy trading. The study also identifies influential authors, institutions, and countries, emphasizing the collaborative and interdisciplinary nature of blockchain research. Through thematic analysis, this review uncovers the challenges and opportunities in decentralized systems, underscoring the need for continued innovation in consensus mechanisms to address efficiency, sustainability, scalability, and privacy concerns. These insights offer a valuable foundation for future research aimed at advancing blockchain technology across various industries.

An overview of blockchain research and future agenda: Insights from structural topic modeling

As a disruptive technology, blockchain has become a strategic priority for many businesses. A vast amount of research exists on blockchain's innovative nature and immense potential for multiple industries. This study aims to synthesize the existing research to classify the findings into various themes and propose avenues for further research. A total of 2,360 academic articles were analyzed using the text-mining method of structural topic modeling. The identified fifteen topics were mapped to the four quadrants of the Datatopia model, leading to the development of the Datatopia-blockchain (DBlock) framework. The results present future scenarios that provide an understanding of what is known about blockchain, its characteristics, and potential research areas. The contributions to the theory and implications to the practitioners are discussed in detail.

PoAh 2.0: AI-empowered dynamic authentication based adaptive blockchain consensus for IoMT-edge workflow

This paper introduces a significant advancement in the Proof of Authentication (PoAh) consensus algorithm, designed specifically for resource-constrained Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Building upon the foundations of PoAh consensus, this enhanced iteration, known as PoAh 2.0, integrates Artificial Intelligence (AI) at the block creator node level. This novel approach allows for the generation of block transactions embedded with AI-determined sensitivity and other applicable transaction-related metadata, a pioneering concept in this domain. The verifier node, a trusted entity, is tasked with verifying incoming blocks, utilizing the block header and its metadata information to determine authenticity while preserving the privacy of the content of the block’s data. A core innovation of PoAh 2.0 is its dynamic authentication mechanism, which adapts to the sensitivity level of the data within each block, behaving in an adaptive way based on the situation. AI plays a crucial role in this process, ensuring the block’s integrity and security are maintained. To demonstrate the efficacy of this advanced AI-enabled PoAh 2.0 consensus, we conducted a case study in an Internet of Medical Things (IoMT)-based eHealth scenario. The results from this study reveal that our developed dynamic authentication technique not only significantly enhances the original PoAh version but also establishes a new benchmark in block validation and security for eHealth applications. The integration of AI and improved dynamic authentication, calibrated to the security needs of each block, marks a novel and significant stride in blockchain research. This development not only enriches the current understanding of blockchain applications in IoT, but also sets a new direction for future research in secure and efficient blockchain implementations in the IoMT-Edge centric eHealth landscape.

Blockchain for Accounting and Auditing—Accounting and Auditing for Cryptocurrencies: A Systematic Literature Review and Future Research Directions

The aim of this study is to analyze and synthesize the key challenges that are prevalent in the application of blockchain in accounting and auditing, to study the approaches to account for cryptocurrencies, to study the effect of blockchain on the accounting and auditing profession, and to identify the current direction of research of blockchain in accounting and auditing, as well as identify potential avenues of future research. The research is based on 75 peer-reviewed academic studies on the topic of blockchain in accounting and auditing, followed by a descriptive and thematic analysis of the literature. Our results indicate that there is a need for more empirical studies to be carried out, which coincides with the notion of growing digitization and blockchain adoption in accounting and auditing. Based on our thematic analysis of the literature, we recommend that future research on blockchain in accounting and auditing should concentrate on the following specific areas: skills and education, governance, auditor independence, accounting standards and regulation, and the challenges faced by the accounting and auditing professions due to the adoption of blockchain technology.

Revolutionizing finance with bitcoin and blockchain: a literature review and research agenda

PurposeOur analysis is targeted at researchers in the fields of economics and finance, and we place emphasis on the incremental contributions of each paper, key research questions, study methodology, main conclusions and data and identification tactics. By focusing on these critical areas, our review seeks to provide valuable insights and guidance for future research in this rapidly evolving and complex field.Design/methodology/approachThis paper conducts a structured literature review (SLR) of Bitcoin-related articles published in the leading finance, economics and accounting journals between 2018 and 2023. Following Massaro et al. (2016), SLR is a method for examining a corpus of scholarly work to generate new ideas, critical reflections and future research agendas. The goals of SLR are congruent with the three outcomes of critical management research identified by Alvesson and Deetz (2000): insight, critique and transformative redefinition.FindingsThe present state of research on Bitcoin lacks coherence and interconnectedness, leading to a limited understanding of the underlying mechanisms. However, certain areas of research have emerged as significant topics for further exploration. These include the decentralized payment system, equilibrium price, market microstructure, trading patterns and regulation of Bitcoin. In this context, this review serves as a valuable starting point for researchers who are unacquainted with the interdisciplinary field of bitcoin and blockchain research. It is essential to recognize the potential value of research in Bitcoin-related fields in advancing knowledge of the interaction between finance, economics, law and technology. Therefore, future research in this area should focus on adopting innovative and interdisciplinary methods to enhance our comprehension of these intricate and evolving technologies.Originality/valueOur review encompasses the latest research on Bitcoin, including its market microstructure, trading behavior, price patterns and portfolio analysis. It explores Bitcoin's market microstructure, liquidity, derivative markets, price discovery and market efficiency. Studies have also focused on trading behavior, investors' characteristics, market sentiment and price volatility. Furthermore, empirical studies demonstrate the advantages of including Bitcoin in a portfolio. These findings enhance our understanding of Bitcoin's potential impact on the financial industry.

Business models for the Blockchain: An empirical analysis

Business models of industries and ventures enabled by new and emerging technologies are under-developed and fragmented. The blockchain technology promises to disrupt the business models. However, the scholarly literature in blockchain research is only beginning to emerge, and the majority are focused on the technical aspect leaving aside the business model complexities for blockchain applications. This paper fills this gap and proposes a blockchain business model framework. The research utilizes a sequential exploratory research design (SERD), encompassing two key phases: an initial phase involving a literature review and interviews to delineate blockchain business model building blocks and types, followed by a subsequent survey to identify the most pertinent building blocks and types. The findings helped to formulate the framework, necessary building blocks, and block types specifically for the blockchain applications. Organizations can tailor their business model through various configuration options and mechanisms, considering the arrangement of block types within each block according to their significant score levels. By giving priority to those with scores above the block's average, organizations can evaluate the performance of their models and pinpoint areas for enhancement. The proposed framework can be considered as a reference point for developing business models for blockchain applications.

Blockchain technology integration in service migration to 6G communication networks: a comprehensive review

<p>The next generation of wireless networks, 6G is being designed with data-intensive applications. One of the key technologies that will enable 6G is blockchain technology. The emergence of blockchain technology and 6G networks has revolutionized service migration. Service migration in 6G networks is a complex process that requires the integration of new technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), edge computing, and network slicing. Motivated by these facts, this comprehensive review includes an overview of blockchain and service migration integration in 6G. First, state of art, development frame work and related works were introduced. Then, we used content analysis by WordStat software and bibliographic analysis by VOSviewer to analysis the current status of service migration and blockchain integration in 6G networks. Next, patterns and characteristics, benefits and challenges and potential cases were reviewed. Then, we proposed an architectural blockchain-based model including decentralized architecture, edge computing, network slicing, software-defined networking, and 5G-6G interworking in 6G. Finally, we described potential application service migration-based in 6G networks including digital twin (DT), holograms, robot avatar, high density internet of things (IoT), AR and VR in 6G and collected open research and future directions of service migration and blockchain.</p>

A Review on Blockchain Technology

Blockchain technology has emerged as a disruptive force with the potential to revolutionize various industries by offering decentralized, secure, and transparent solutions for data management and transactions. Initially conceptualized as the underlying technology for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, blockchain has evolved into a versatile tool applicable across diverse domains such as finance, supply chain management, healthcare, and government services. This paper provides an overview of blockchain technology, its fundamental principles, and key components. It explores the decentralized consensus mechanisms, cryptographic techniques, and data structures that underpin blockchain networks, ensuring immutability, transparency, and integrity of recorded transactions. Furthermore, the paper examines the challenges and opportunities associated with blockchain adoption, including scalability, interoperability, regulatory concerns, and environmental impact. Through a comprehensive review of existing literature and case studies, this research elucidates the potential benefits of blockchain technology, such as increased efficiency, reduced costs, enhanced security, and improved trust among participants. Additionally, it highlights ongoing developments, innovations, and future directions in blockchain research and implementation, emphasizing the need for interdisciplinary collaboration and regulatory frameworks to realize the full potential of this transformative technology. Keywords : IOT, blockchain, cryptocurrency, smart contracts, consensus algorithms, internet of things.

Blockchain technology, social media sentiment and stock price

AbstractWe investigate the impact of the announcements by firms to adopt blockchain technology on stock prices and the different characteristics of stock prices under different types of blockchain technologies. Simultaneously, we propose two impact mechanisms: one is investor sentiment, and the other is the firm's governance of social media. We find that the firm's stock price has shown an increasing trend since the release of the announcement of the adoption of blockchain technology. At the same time, firms engaged in blockchain research, development and investment, and that simultaneously deploy other financial technologies, as well as firms that deploy blockchain technology for non‐speculative purposes, have better stock prices. In addition, the layout of a firm's blockchain may affect its stock price by influencing investor sentiment and public opinion.

Analyzing the Impact of Blockchain Technology on Transaction Security with a Bibliometric Perspective

This study presents a comprehensive bibliometric analysis aimed at assessing the impact of blockchain technology on transaction security. Spanning the period from 2016 to 2024, our analysis encompasses a total of 980 papers, revealing a profound scholarly interest and a rapidly evolving research landscape in this domain. Through quantitative metrics such as citation analysis, and qualitative insights from thematic, overlay, density, and author network visualizations, we delineate the key trends, challenges, and future directions in blockchain research. The findings indicate a marked emphasis on the decentralization, security, and transparency that blockchain offers, with significant applications across banking, energy trading, the Internet of Things (IoT), healthcare, and education sectors. Despite its promise, the study also identifies persistent challenges related to scalability, interoperability, privacy, and regulatory compliance that need addressing. By mapping the scholarly landscape, this research not only sheds light on the current state of blockchain technology in enhancing transaction security but also outlines potential avenues for future research, underscoring the technology's interdisciplinary impact and its evolving role in digital transactions.

The Impact of Blockchain on the Administrative Efficiency of Provincial Governments Based on the Data Envelopment Analysis–Tobit Model

Since its reform and opening up in 1978, China has maintained strong economic growth for more than four decades. For a long time, China’s economic growth has been characterized by a crude growth mode, which is mainly manifested in growth driven by large amounts of capital, energy and raw materials, and labor inputs, with little contribution from innovation and technology, which will make it difficult to promote sustainable development in the era of the knowledge economy. On the other hand, improving administrative efficiency is one of the key paths to realizing China’s sustainable development strategy. The Chinese government emphasizes high-quality development, and long-term development and stable management can be achieved only if administrative efficiency is improved on the basis of achieving sustainable development. For the purpose of transforming and developing the Chinese government to a higher standard, this study examined how blockchain affects administrative effectiveness across different provinces. The three-stage Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model was chosen to evaluate China’s regional administrative efficiency. It used the typical markers found in both the international and domestic literature. The input–output indicators were determined using the Delphi method, and the findings showed that while most provinces had reasonably high administrative efficiency, there were notable regional variations. This article empirically employed the Tobit model to examine the effect of blockchain on administrative efficiency based on administrative efficiency calculations. The findings showed that administrative efficiency was significantly impacted by blockchain research investment, blockchain research output, the number of blockchain policies, and the size of the population. In contrast, there was not a significant impact on administrative efficiency due to the quantity of procurements for blockchain government initiatives.

Research on blockchain abnormal transaction detection technology combining CNN and transformer structure

With the rapid development of blockchain and digital currencies, cybercrimes targeting blockchain transactions are proliferating. Various abnormal transaction behaviors caused by malicious nodes and malicious transactions have emerged in blockchain systems. Therefore, blockchain transaction security research is a hot issue in blockchain research. Deep learning has made remarkable achievements in image and audio. However, deep learning is less effective when processing text-like data than tree-based models. Therefore, for the highly unbalanced textual financial dataset, this paper designs a deep learning anomaly detection method called 1D SA-Inception by combining CNN with Transformer structure on the basis of traditional one-dimensional CNN (1D-CNN), introduces the Inception structure to learn the information of different scales of tabular data, and introduces the Transformer (self-attention) self-attention mechanism for the research of blockchain anomaly transaction detection technology, effectively improving the prediction effect. Finally, by conducting experiments on the extreme class imbalance dataset, the results show that the 1D SA-Inception designed in this paper outperforms the traditional CNN with AUC, G-mean, and F1 indexes of 91.05 %, 84.95 %, and 83.52 %, respectively, on the textual dataset. This method can more efficiently achieve the detection of abnormal transaction behavior, safeguard consumer rights and interests, and ensure the safe development of the financial sector.

A Game Theoretical Analysis of Non-linear Blockchain System

Recent advances in blockchain research have been made in two important directions. One is refined resilience analysis utilizing game theory to study the consequences of selfish behavior of users (miners), and the other is the extension from a linear (chain) structure to a non-linear (graphical) structure for performance improvements, such as IOTA and Graphcoin. The first question that comes to mind is what improvements a blockchain system would see by leveraging these new advances. In this article, we consider three major properties for a blockchain system: α-partial verification, scalability, and finality-duration. We establish a formal framework and prove that no blockchain system can achieve α-partial verification for any fixed constant α, high scalability, and low finality-duration simultaneously. We observe that classical blockchain systems like Bitcoin achieve full verification (α =1) and low finality-duration, Ethereum 2.0 Sharding achieves low finality-duration and high scalability. We are interested in whether it is possible to partially satisfy the three properties.

The development of blockchain technology in manufacturing: A bibliometric analysis

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.

Designing trust-enabling blockchain systems for the inter-organizational exchange of capacity

In times of rapid and unpredictable developments, companies experience significant volatility in capacity utilization. Virtual capacity exchange platforms help to mitigate this challenge by exchanging capacities with anonymous participants in market-like peer-to-peer networks. However, its efficiency is hindered by behavioral uncertainties, including a lack of inter-organizational trust in other participants. To leverage the potential of such exchange platforms, this paper reports on a Design Science Research project aiming to derive and validate design principles for establishing trust in inter-organizational capacity exchange in two design iterations. Using blockchain technology, we instantiate six design principles into an artifact and perform experimental evaluations to investigate their effect on perceived trust. Our paper contributes to research and practice by identifying and applying prescriptive design knowledge and advancing our understanding of how to design trust-enabling inter-organizational systems. The originality lies within the empirical investigation of how and why different design principle combinations can be established through blockchain technology as one of the promising approaches for establishing trust. In doing this, we also disclose future pathways for IS and blockchain researchers and practitioners.

Scalability Challenges in Blockchain Networks: A Comparative Analysis

Blockchain technology, originating with Nakamoto's seminal whitepaper in 2008, has evolved into a transformative force, promising decentralized, transparent, and secure digital transactions. However, the burgeoning impact of blockchain is accompanied by inherent scalability challenges that impede its widespread adoption and efficiency. This study conducts a comparative analysis of scalability challenges within prominent blockchain networks Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Binance Smart Chain. Rooted in a holistic understanding of blockchain evolution, the analysis focuses on transaction throughput, latency, consensus mechanisms, network congestion, and resource utilization. Consensus mechanisms, serving as the bedrock of blockchain networks, play a pivotal role in scalability dynamics. The study dissects the implications of diverse mechanisms Proof of Work (PoW), Proof-of-Stake (PoS), and Delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPoS) to unravel their impact on transaction efficiency. Network congestion emerges as a critical hurdle, affecting transaction confirmation times and overall system efficiency. Balancing this congestion requires a nuanced understanding of network dynamics, block sizes, and transaction prioritization. Resource utilization, particularly in terms of computing power and memory, becomes a focal point for sustainable growth. The study scrutinizes the efficiency of resource allocation and its implications for scalability, acknowledging the delicate balance between network performance and ecological considerations. By juxtaposing these blockchain networks, the comparative analysis aims to discern patterns, evaluate the effectiveness of consensus mechanisms, and provide actionable insights to address scalability challenges. Ethical considerations underpin the study, ensuring responsible data usage, user privacy, and adherence to ethical standards in blockchain research. This exploration into scalability challenges within blockchain networks contributes to the broader discourse on decentralized technologies. The findings are poised to inform future developments, providing a roadmap for enhancing scalability while maintaining the core tenets of decentralization, security, and sustainability.

Examining the Progression of Blockchain Technology and Its Implementation During Digital Economy

Blockchain technology is a peer-to-peer, distributed, and innovative database and disruptive information technology. It has features such as decentralized organization, tamper resistance, and anonymity. It has become the most critical element in developing a new generation of information infrastructure in China and a core component in driving the digital economy. Blockchain relies on the Internet ecosystem, providing not only the foundation for trusted protocols but also unlimited potential applications in inclusive financial services, digital assets, e-government, and other fields. It integrates the most advanced information technologies in modern society, making it of great significance in reshaping and developing the digital economy. This article explores the characteristics and development history of blockchain technology, as well as its current research status and potential theoretical value and practical significance when applied to digital economic scenarios. At the same time, it will discuss the current limitations of blockchain research, possible future directions, and development methods.

Professional Ethics, Challenges and Opportunities for Blockchain Technology in Healthcare Sector: A Systematic Review

Background:: The healthcare sector faces numerous issues, such as insurance fraud, electronic medical record management, interoperability, insecure dissemination of information, etc. The novel Blockchain technology holds tremendous potential to transform the healthcare sector by addressing these rising challenges in the industry. It provides a secure platform for storing, disseminating, and retrieving sensitive patient data and health records while preserving the ethical principles of the healthcare sector. Method:: In this study, we systematically reviewed the literature on blockchain technology in healthcare using PRISMA and highlighted how blockchain technology might promote innovation and deliver major improvements in the healthcare sector. Result:: Our goal is to examine the present status of this discipline, focusing on limits and potential advances. Queries were used to gather Scopus, PubMed, SpringerLink, IEEE Xplore, and Web of Science publications that met the criteria for the selection of papers. Conclusion:: This article, thus, analyses the potential for blockchain in the healthcare industry and outlines blockchain-based products in healthcare. Our study enhances and complements prior healthcare blockchain research.