Discovering the global landscape of digital economy: a two-decade bibliometric review

Research on the digital economy has evolved from stagnant to rapid or progressive phases over the past twenty-year period. Through bibliometric review, this study specifically examines the development of digital economy research from several aspects of bibliometric indicators. We conducted a bibliometric analysis of digital economy research from 2004 to early 2023. Based on the keywords used, which are specifically related to the digital economy in the article title, this study retrieved 2,348 published articles from the Scopus database. Besides Microsoft Excel for frequency analysis, this study employs Harzing’s Publish or Perish software for citation metrics and VOSviewer software for network creation and visualisation of the retrieved scientific publications. Our findings discovered eight main and diverse research clusters related to the digital economy. The current study also proposes an avenue for future research through discussion on under-explored research themes within digital economy-related research.