A Bibliometric Analysis of Blockchain Applications in E-Commerce: Trends and Research Directions

Blockchain technology has emerged as a transformative force within the e-commerce industry, offering significant potential to address longstanding issues such as data security, transaction transparency, and customer trust. Despite its growing relevance, the academic exploration of blockchain applications in e-commerce remains fragmented and lacks a cohesive research agenda. This study conducts a comprehensive bibliometric analysis to map the intellectual landscape of blockchain applications in e-commerce, identifying influential publications, key authors, prominent journals, and major thematic trends. Using data extracted from the Scopus database between 2014 and 2024, the study employs bibliometric tools such as VOSviewer and Biblioshiny for performance analysis and science mapping. The analysis reveals a steady increase in research interest, with dominant themes including trust, smart contracts, supply chain management, and secure payments. Furthermore, the findings indicate that most research is concentrated in technologically advanced countries, and collaborations among scholars remain limited. By interpreting these patterns, the study uncovers critical gaps in the literature and proposes future research directions focusing on consumer behavior, regulatory frameworks, cross-border challenges, and integration with emerging technologies like AI and IoT. The results contribute to a clearer understanding of the evolution of blockchain research in e-commerce and provide a foundation for academics and practitioners to develop more secure, efficient, and user-centric digital commerce systems.

@article{Giang2025,
  title     = {A Bibliometric Analysis of Blockchain Applications in E-Commerce: Trends and Research Directions},
  journal   = {International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications},
  volume    = {16},
  number    = {12},
  year      = {2025},
  publisher = {The Science and Information Organization},
  author    = {Nguyen Thi Phuong Giang and Le Ngoc Son and Thai Dong Tan},
  doi       = {10.14569/IJACSA.2025.0161246},
  url       = {https://doi.org/10.14569/IJACSA.2025.0161246}
}