Relationship trend of energy consumption and economic growth studies: a global examination based on bibliometric and visualization analysis

Abstract

Purpose The evidence on the causality of energy consumption and economic growth nexus is plentiful in energy economics studies. The empirical research results documented are dissimilar because different methodologies, variables, time or data sources have been used. This study aims to examine and evaluate the existing literature to reveal the research inclinations, including future research directions. Therefore, from an application perspective, this study performed a bibliometric analysis that can serve as a basis for understanding research trend in relation to nexus of energy consumption and economic growth, its comprehensive research outcomes and the growing research inclination. Design/methodology/approach Using keyword search and delimiting criteria, 969 articles are selected for bibliometric analysis. Citation analysis, author keyword co-occurrence analysis, co-authorship and co-citation analysis are performed to assess the productive countries, authors, journals, articles, energy research trends, collaborating scholars and more frequently cited together articles. Findings Research results of the paper present a comprehensive research understanding of energy consumption and economic growth nexus studies. In terms of trending research topics, sustainable development, population density, urbanization, energy efficiency, energy intensity and carbon emission constitute a distinguished association that indicates the growth of these diverse fields’ study about energy. Practical implications As a policy implication and direction, the trade openness, natural gas/ resources, environmental kuznets curve, fossil-fuel consumption, agricultural land, financial development and foreign investments can be studied along with energy usage and economic growth nexus studies. Social implications The results provide valuable insight for the researchers selecting their potential disciplines for study, combining various techniques to deal with complex problems, identifying prospective co-authors and identifying the appropriate institutes for accompanying academic studies or collaborative research. Originality/value To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is one of its kind regarding investigating the trend of energy consumption and economic growth relationship-related research published from 2001 to 2020 on the Scopus database.