Bibliometric Analysis of Scientific Publications on Blockchain Research and Applications
Lingfeng Bao, Jiameng Yang, Xiaohu Yang, Chunming Rong
TL;DR
This bibliometric study analyzes 41,497 blockchain-related publications from 2008–2023 using Clarivate databases to map the field’s growth, collaboration, and impact. It combines CNCI-based normalization, citation velocity, and co-citation clustering to identify Emerging Research Areas and five representative Research Fronts, providing a fine-grained view of how blockchain research evolves across countries, institutions, and disciplines. The findings reveal strong growth, rising international collaboration, and high-impact work concentrated in both large and smaller economies, with core areas spanning computer science, economics/finance, and cross-domain applications (IoT, supply chains, privacy, and data security). The study offers actionable insights into evolving trends, influential publications, and future directions for multidisciplinary blockchain research. It also demonstrates how ERA and RF analyses can guide researchers and policymakers in prioritizing topics and collaborations.
Abstract
Since the introduction of Bitcoin in 2008, blockchain technology has garnered widespread attention. Scholars from various research fields, countries, and institutions have published a significant number of papers on this subject. However, there is currently a lack of comprehensive analysis specifically focusing on the scientific publications in the field of blockchain. To conduct a comprehensive analysis, we compiled a corpus of 41,497 publications in blockchain research from 2008 to 2023 using the Clarivate databases. Through bibliometric and citation analyses, we gained valuable insights into the field. Our study offers an overview of the blockchain research landscape, including country, institution, authorship, and subject categories. Additionally, we identified Emerging Research Areas (ERA) using the co-citation clustering approach, examining factors such as recency, growth, and contributions from different countries/regions. Furthermore, we identified influential publications based on citation velocity and analyzed five representative Research Fronts in detail. This analysis provides a fine-grained examination of specific areas within blockchain research. Our findings contribute to understanding evolving trends, emerging applications, and potential directions for future research in the multidisciplinary field of blockchain.