Impact of data protection legislation on the digitalization of small and medium-sized enterprise

Introduction: Decision-making in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) relies heavily on the proper management of data. Objective: The objective of this research was to describe the scientific output on data protection legislation in the digitization of small and medium-sized enterprises, which is required by these enterprises for decision-making. Methods: To this end, the Scimago portal was used as a source for analyzing scientific output, and a review of the distribution by quartiles was carried out based on bibliometric indicators such as the H index, the impact factor of journals, the number of documents published, the average number of citations per document, international scientific collaboration, and citations from public funding agencies. Likewise, the number of articles cited in the most relevant journals in each quartile was analyzed in order to assess the relevance of scientific innovation in the formulation of adequate data protection legislation in the process of digitizing SMEs. Results: The findings reveal that most scientific output is concentrated in journals belonging to countries with a high level of technological development. The areas with the highest representation are threat detection and data protection. Conclusions: A low level of dissemination of research related to the development of specific legislative frameworks for data protection in the context of the digitization of small and medium-sized enterprises was identified.