Two decades of corruption research in ASEAN: A bibliometrics analysis in Scopus database (2000–2020)

Abstract

This article provides the first quantitative analysis on the development in the field of corruption research conducted by scholars having affiliations located in one of the ASEAN countries. Bibliometric analysis has been applied to a publication collection of 631 articles, published during the 2000–2020 period, in journals indexed in the Scopus database. Results showed that the number of publications has increased, especially during the 2011–2020 period with a share of 85.6% of the publication collection. The United States, the United Kingdom, China, the Netherlands and Hong Kong were the most important partner countries, but these collaboration projects accounted for only a small part of the publication collection. Collaboration between scholars in ASEAN countries was very limited, with many isolated scholars who have a few publications. The most popular research topics focused on corruption in a few sectors, such as education, economics, government, construction, and foreign direct investment. Findings in this article can be of interest to scholars who want to form a good vision of this research field in the future. Moreover, it might provide useful information to managers, decision-makers, and ASEAN governments on how to fight with corruption and improve transparency.

Keywords

• corruption
• bibliometric
• asean
• scopus