Visualised bibliometric mapping on smart specialisation: a co-citation analysis

Abstract

The primary purpose of this bibliometric study is to systematically explore the multidisciplinary, multilevel and multicontextual dimensions of smart specialisation strategies. Quantitatively based co-citation analyses, including qualitative aspects, are used to map the emerging and multifaceted S3 phenomenon. Data from Web of Science and Scopus shape the background of these visualisations, including 297 peer-reviewed documents and 8,173 cited references from 5,659 co-cited sources of 5,806 co-cited authors linked to 298 organisations and 45 countries. Additionally, co-authorship and bibliographic coupling maps are illustrated. As one of the first studies with such a focus, the outcomes emphasise the need for more research in this discipline to improve our familiarity with smart specialisation strategies. Thus, this effort highlights not only potential research avenues with a recommended step-by-step approach, but also valuable implications for theory and practice based on the previous work discussed in the course of clustering the co-citation analyses.