Knowledge management (KM) is an emerging area, which is gaining interest by both enterprises and academics. The effective implementation of a KM strategy is considering as a ‘must’ and as a precondition of success for contemporary enterprises, as they enter the era of the knowledge economy. However, the field of KM has been slow in formulating a universally accepted methodology, due to the many pending issues that have to be addressed. This paper attempts to propose a novel taxonomy for KM research by co-instantaneously presenting the current status with some major themes of KM research. The discussion presented on these issues should be of value to researchers and practitioners. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.