Mapping peer-to-peer lending research: A bibliometric review of publication growth, knowledge structure, and future research agenda

Peer-to-peer lending has become a significant topic in digital finance because it connects borrowers and lenders through online platforms, reduces some traditional banking frictions, and exposes new forms of information asymmetry, platform risk, and regulatory complexity. This manuscript presents a bibliometric review of peer-to-peer lending research to identify how the field has developed, which publication outlets and countries dominate knowledge production, and which themes now structure the research agenda. The review uses a secondary bibliometric synthesis based on published Scopus-oriented bibliometric evidence covering 2007-2024, complemented by methodological guidance from bibliometric research and selected substantive studies on credit risk, trust, financial inclusion, and regulation. The synthesis indicates that peer-to-peer lending research progressed from early platform-novelty studies to a mature, multidisciplinary field. Publication growth accelerated after 2015, reached a peak around 2020-2021, and then entered a consolidation phase marked by risk, artificial intelligence, market governance, and inclusion-oriented questions. Core themes include information asymmetry, lender trust, borrower soft information, default prediction, financial inclusion, small and medium enterprise financing, data protection, and sustainable or Islamic lending models. The article contributes by integrating performance analysis and thematic science mapping into a research agenda for management, finance, information systems, and public policy scholars. The findings suggest that future studies should move beyond prediction accuracy and adoption questions toward explainable risk models, responsible platform governance, consumer protection, financial well-being, and comparative institutional analysis.