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A bibliometric review of bibliometric reviews of corporate governance: current topics and recommendations for future research

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  • Nejla Ould Daoud Ellili

    (Abu Dhabi University)

Abstract

This study aims to identify current topics in the corporate governance literature by conducting a bibliometric review of corporate governance bibliometric reviews published in the Scopus database. It applies different bibliometric analyses, including keyword cartography, authors’ citations, countries’ citations, organizations’ citations, documents’ citations, references’ citations, and journal citations. In addition, it applies evolution and content analyses. It reviewed 87 bibliometric reviews of corporate governance published in Scopus. VOSviewer was used as software for conducting bibliometric analysis, whereas author used CiteSpace and WordStat software for evolution and content analyses. The results identified four major clusters: (1) private equity, (2) corporate social responsibility, (3) gender diversity, and (4) sustainability. In addition, the results reveal that journals on Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, Management Review Quarterly, and Meditari Accountancy Research contribute to bibliometric reviews of corporate governance in terms of number of papers and citations. This study provides recommendations for future research in this area. This study has implications for bibliometric reviews of corporate governance topics such as corporate governance in specific legal and industrial contexts, ownership structure, attributes of the board of directors, and different financial decisions. This is the first study to review bibliometric analyses of corporate governance topics. These results will be useful in future bibliometric reviews of corporate governance. This study presents an overview of the bibliometric review development of corporate governance and a summary of the most productive authors, organizations, journal sources, and references. It also provides potential research opportunities for future bibliometric reviews of corporate governance topics.

Suggested Citation

  • Nejla Ould Daoud Ellili, 2025. "A bibliometric review of bibliometric reviews of corporate governance: current topics and recommendations for future research," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(1), pages 244-262, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:ijodag:v:22:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1057_s41310-024-00256-1
    DOI: 10.1057/s41310-024-00256-1
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Corporate governance; Bibliometric analysis; VOSviewer; CiteSpace; WordStat;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • G39 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Other
    • O16 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment; Corporate Finance and Governance

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