IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finlet/v56y2023ics1544612323005172.html

Explainable artificial intelligence in finance: A bibliometric review

Author

Listed:
  • Chen, Xun-Qi
  • Ma, Chao-Qun
  • Ren, Yi-Shuai
  • Lei, Yu-Tian
  • Huynh, Ngoc Quang Anh
  • Narayan, Seema

Abstract

This study focuses on explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) in finance. We collected 2,733 articles published between 2013 and 2023 from the Web of Science Core Collection and analyzed trends in literature development and future prospects using an integrated CiteSpace and Natural Language Processing (NLP) bibliometric approach. Our analysis reveals an increase in publication after 2013. Early XAI research had a significant and lasting impact, shifting research focus from traditional finance research to inclusive finance. XAI has diversified financial capabilities, and non-XAI pursues interpretable solutions for improvement. We conclude with a list of prospective subjects for further study.

Suggested Citation

  • Chen, Xun-Qi & Ma, Chao-Qun & Ren, Yi-Shuai & Lei, Yu-Tian & Huynh, Ngoc Quang Anh & Narayan, Seema, 2023. "Explainable artificial intelligence in finance: A bibliometric review," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:56:y:2023:i:c:s1544612323005172
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2023.104145
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1544612323005172
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.frl.2023.104145?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Donthu, Naveen & Kumar, Satish & Mukherjee, Debmalya & Pandey, Nitesh & Lim, Weng Marc, 2021. "How to conduct a bibliometric analysis: An overview and guidelines," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 285-296.
    2. Eduardo Duque-Grisales & Javier Aguilera-Caracuel, 2021. "Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Scores and Financial Performance of Multilatinas: Moderating Effects of Geographic International Diversification and Financial Slack," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 168(2), pages 315-334, January.
    3. Nizam, Esma & Ng, Adam & Dewandaru, Ginanjar & Nagayev, Ruslan & Nkoba, Malik Abdulrahman, 2019. "The impact of social and environmental sustainability on financial performance: A global analysis of the banking sector," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 35-53.
    4. repec:plo:pone00:0223994 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Dwivedi, Yogesh K. & Hughes, Laurie & Ismagilova, Elvira & Aarts, Gert & Coombs, Crispin & Crick, Tom & Duan, Yanqing & Dwivedi, Rohita & Edwards, John & Eirug, Aled & Galanos, Vassilis & Ilavarasan, , 2021. "Artificial Intelligence (AI): Multidisciplinary perspectives on emerging challenges, opportunities, and agenda for research, practice and policy," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    6. Du, Shuili & Xie, Chunyan, 2021. "Paradoxes of artificial intelligence in consumer markets: Ethical challenges and opportunities," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 961-974.
    7. Jean-Marie John-Mathews, 2022. "Some critical and ethical perspectives on the empirical turn of AI interpretability," Post-Print hal-03395823, HAL.
    8. Coussement, Kristof & De Bock, Koen W., 2013. "Customer churn prediction in the online gambling industry: The beneficial effect of ensemble learning," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(9), pages 1629-1636.
    9. Morshadul Hasan & Thi Le & Ariful Hoque, 2021. "How does financial literacy impact on inclusive finance?," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 7(1), pages 1-23, December.
    10. Carmona, Pedro & Dwekat, Aladdin & Mardawi, Zeena, 2022. "No more black boxes! Explaining the predictions of a machine learning XGBoost classifier algorithm in business failure," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    11. Tyler Scott, 2015. "Does Collaboration Make Any Difference? Linking Collaborative Governance to Environmental Outcomes," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(3), pages 537-566, June.
    12. Khan, Ashraf & Goodell, John W. & Hassan, M. Kabir & Paltrinieri, Andrea, 2022. "A bibliometric review of finance bibliometric papers," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 47(PA).
    13. Jean-Marie John-Mathews & Dominique Cardon & Christine Balagué, 2022. "From Reality to World. A Critical Perspective on AI Fairness," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 178(4), pages 945-959, July.
    14. Katarina Valaskova & Tomas Kliestik & Maria Kovacova, 2018. "Management of financial risks in Slovak enterprises using regression analysis," Oeconomia Copernicana, Institute of Economic Research, vol. 9(1), pages 105-121, March.
    15. Goodell, John W. & Kumar, Satish & Lim, Weng Marc & Pattnaik, Debidutta, 2021. "Artificial intelligence and machine learning in finance: Identifying foundations, themes, and research clusters from bibliometric analysis," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(C).
    16. Davig, Troy & Hall, Aaron Smalter, 2019. "Recession forecasting using Bayesian classification," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 848-867.
    17. Zhang, Chanyuan (Abigail) & Cho, Soohyun & Vasarhelyi, Miklos, 2022. "Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) in auditing," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 46(C).
    18. John-Mathews, Jean-Marie, 2022. "Some critical and ethical perspectives on the empirical turn of AI interpretability," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    19. Sandberg, Susanne, 2014. "Experiential knowledge antecedents of the SME network node configuration in emerging market business networks," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 20-29.
    20. Guangyou Zhou & Lian Liu & Sumei Luo, 2022. "Sustainable development, ESG performance and company market value: Mediating effect of financial performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(7), pages 3371-3387, November.
    21. Gür Ali, Özden & Gürlek, Ragıp, 2020. "Automatic Interpretable Retail forecasting with promotional scenarios," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 1389-1406.
    22. Chen, Rui & Ren, Jinjuan, 2022. "Do AI-powered mutual funds perform better?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 47(PA).
    23. Hakan Gunduz, 2021. "An efficient stock market prediction model using hybrid feature reduction method based on variational autoencoders and recursive feature elimination," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 7(1), pages 1-24, December.
    24. Jake B. Telkamp & Marc H. Anderson, 2022. "The Implications of Diverse Human Moral Foundations for Assessing the Ethicality of Artificial Intelligence," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 178(4), pages 961-976, July.
    25. Ren, Yi-Shuai & Ma, Chao-Qun & Chen, Xun-Qi & Lei, Yu-Tian & Wang, Yi-Ran, 2023. "Sustainable finance and blockchain: A systematic review and research agenda," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    26. Dang, Man & Puwanenthiren, Premkanth & Thai, Hong An & Mazur, Mieszko & Jones, Edward & Vo, Xuan Vinh, 2021. "Policy uncertainty and seasoned equity offerings methods," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gang Kou & Yang Lu, 2025. "FinTech: a literature review of emerging financial technologies and applications," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 11(1), pages 1-34, December.
    2. Darko B. Vuković & Senanu Dekpo-Adza & Stefana Matović, 2025. "AI integration in financial services: a systematic review of trends and regulatory challenges," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-29, December.
    3. Nejla Ould Daoud Ellili, 2024. "Financial inclusion and sustainable development: A review and research agenda," Journal of Financial Services Marketing, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 29(4), pages 1345-1364, December.
    4. Behera, Rajat Kumar & Bala, Pradip Kumar & Rana, Nripendra P. & Irani, Zahir, 2023. "Responsible natural language processing: A principlist framework for social benefits," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    5. Ren, Yi-Shuai & Ma, Chao-Qun & Chen, Xun-Qi & Lei, Yu-Tian & Wang, Yi-Ran, 2023. "Sustainable finance and blockchain: A systematic review and research agenda," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    6. Pandey, Dharen Kumar, 2025. "FinTech literature reviews: A hybrid approach," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    7. Goodell, John W. & Oriani, Marco Ercole & Paltrinieri, Andrea & Patel, Ritesh, 2023. "The importance of ABS 2 journals in finance scholarship: Evidence from a bibliometric case study," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 55(PA).
    8. Daniele Giordino & Elisa Ballesio & Nourah Alshaghdali & Dhruv Galgotia, 2026. "The relationship between organizational focus on AI, financial growth and sustainable development: Evidence from Europe," Post-Print hal-05433094, HAL.
    9. Xia, Huosong & Chen, Hao & ZHANG, Justin Zuopeng & KAMAL, Muhammad Mustafa, 2026. "Exploring the impact of responsible AI governance on corporate performance: A quasi-natural experiment," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 223(C).
    10. Xu, Siyun & Bai, Xiaodong & Chen, Xia, 2025. "Corporate environmental, social, and governance performance, investor attention, and corporate development capability—An empirical examination based on moderating and threshold effects," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    11. Xuan Zhang & Jingxian Zhang & Yongjie Feng, 2023. "Can companies get more government subsidies through improving their ESG performance? Empirical evidence from China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(10), pages 1-25, October.
    12. Anup Kumar & Santosh Kumar Shrivastav & Avinash K. Shrivastava & Rashmi Ranjan Panigrahi & Abbas Mardani & Fausto Cavallaro, 2023. "Sustainable Supply Chain Management, Performance Measurement, and Management: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-25, March.
    13. Doğan, Murat & Sayılır, Özlem & Komath, Muhammed Aslam Chelery & Çimen, Emre, 2025. "Prediction of market value of firms with corporate sustainability performance data using machine learning models," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    14. Li, Yan & Feng, Tian-tian & Liu, Li-li & Zhang, Meng-xi, 2023. "How do the electricity market and carbon market interact and achieve integrated development?--A bibliometric-based review," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    15. Rai, Varun Kumar & Bruna, Maria Giuseppina & Hunjra, Ahmed Imran & Pandey, Dharen Kumar & Lal, Madan, 2024. "COVID-19 literature in Elsevier finance journal ecosystem," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    16. Robertson, Jeandri & Botha, Elsamari & Oosthuizen, Kim & Montecchi, Matteo, 2025. "Managing change when integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into the retail value chain: The AI implementation compass," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    17. Ayadi, Imen & Abderrahman, Jahmane, 2025. "The impact of economic policy uncertainty and digital integration on ESG practices in European companies," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    18. Li, Yueqi & Goel, Sanjay, 2025. "Artificial intelligence auditability and auditor readiness for auditing artificial intelligence systems," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    19. Qin Lingda Tan & Sharizal Hashim & Zhangwei Zheng, 2025. "Environmental Social Governance (ESG) in Digitalization research: A bibliometric analysis," SAGE Open, , vol. 15(1), pages 21582440241, January.
    20. Wentao Gu & Wanting Mo & Meiyu Wang, 2024. "Enterprise-level sustainable entrepreneurship index construction and its applications," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 867-900, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:56:y:2023:i:c:s1544612323005172. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/frl .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.