A bibliometric atlas of financial contagion in emerging markets: Science mapping of a growing literature

Abstract

This study employs a bibliometric approach to map the intellectual structure, thematic landscape, and geographical distribution of research on financial contagion in emerging markets. It examines 824 peer-reviewed journal articles indexed in Scopus between January 2010 and March 2025, identifying leading countries, influential authors, dominant keywords, methodological patterns, and evolving research trends. The dataset was processed using the Bibliometrix package in R through Biblioshiny, together with VOSviewer for keyword co-occurrence analysis and CiteSpace for burst detection. Positioned within a broader historical frame from 1980 to 2026, annual scientific production shows that the 1997–98 Asian Financial Crisis marked the field’s emergence, the 2007–09 Global Financial Crisis drove its first major expansion, and the COVID-19 pandemic produced its strongest acceleration, with output reaching a record 142 articles in 2024. The findings also reveal a broader geographical base of knowledge production, with growing contributions from China, India, Turkey, Brazil, and South Africa, even as the United States and the United Kingdom remain central. Overall, the study highlights a shift toward network-based, cross-asset, and shock-oriented approaches, while showing that research intensity reflects topical relevance more than national income globally.