Twenty-five years of the Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development: a bibliometric review

Abstract

PurposeCommensurate with the 25th anniversary of the Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development (JSBED), this retrospective work distils trends across all original articles published in the journal during this time period.Design/methodology/approachBibliometric analysis techniques are used to analyse 917 original JSBED publications. Specifically, performance analysis is conducted to analyse the journal's publication and citation patterns, bibliographic coupling and author keyword co-occurrence analysis are conducted to identify major themes, and co-authorship analysis is conducted to analyse author collaborations.FindingsResults indicate JSBED has grown considerably since its inception, both in terms publication and citations. JSBED's most prevalent themes include management and growth of small firms, entrepreneurship education, strategy in small firms, business development, technology in small firms, business competencies in small firms, internationalization in small firms, role of social capital, entrepreneurial orientation and entrepreneurship in under-represented and minority populations.Originality/valueThis is the first comprehensive bibliometric analysis of JSBED in the journal's history. Accordingly, it presents a novel and heretofore disparate understanding of the key themes and dialogues emerging from an established journal with a growing reputation for scholarly and practitioner impact.