Two decades of the Journal of Intellectual Capital: a bibliometric overview and an agenda for future research
| Pages | 458-477 |
| Published date | 14 December 2020 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JIC-02-2020-0052 |
| Date | 14 December 2020 |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Knowledge management,HR & organizational behaviour,Organizational structure/dynamics,Accounting & finance,Accounting/accountancy,Behavioural accounting |
| Author | Marina Dabić,Božidar Vlačić,Veronica Scuotto,Merrill Warkentin |
Two decades of the Journal of
Intellectual Capital: a bibliometric
overview and an agenda for
future research
Marina Dabi
c
Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia and
Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK
Bo
zidar Vla
ci
c
Cat
olica Porto Business School and CEGE, Universidade Cat
olica Portuguesa,
Porto, Portugal
Veronica Scuotto
Leonard de Vinci, P^
ole Universitaire, Paris, France and
Department of Management, University of Turin, Torino, Italy, and
Merrill Warkentin
Mississippi State University, Starkville, Mississippi, USA
Abstract
Purpose –The Journal of Intellectual Capital (JIC) is one of the leading academic journals in the field of
business and management, with an impact factor of 3.744, according to Journal Citation Reports from Clarivate
Analytics, 2019. This study reports the results of a content analysis of the JIC articles that have been published
since the journal was founded in 2000, in order to highlight its significant contribution and identify potential
future research avenues within the business and management field.
Design/methodology/approach –Scopus database, complemented by the Web of Science (WOS) Core
Collection, was used. Furthermore, this study graphically maps over 20 years’worth of bibliographic material, using
the visualization of similarities (VOS) to present an overview of the journal and identify future research avenues.
Findings –The paper provides an overview of a total of 700 articles and editorial notes, authored by leading
authors from various universities, as well as collating the research themes explored during the 20 year period
between 2000 and 2019. The prestigious positioning of this journal is evidenced both through the increasing
number of citations received from other highly regarded journals and through its impact upon the
establishment of new streams of research.
Practical implications –By applying a bibliometric analysis, this paper offers an overview of past and
current themes on intellectual capital (IC).
Originality/value –This article delivers an in-depth and rigorous analysis of the fields and research streams
interrogated by the JIC over the last 20 years and offers potential topics for future research, which could
stimulate authors and inspire advancements in research for years to come.
Keywords Intellectual capital, Bibliometric, Human capital, Disclosure, Intangible assets
Paper type Literature review
1. Introduction
The Journal of Intellectual Capital (JIC) is an international journal committed to the exploration
of the roles and importance of intellectual capital (IC) in organizations. As stated in the
journal’s mission statements, its core research stream seeks to discover innovative ideas
concerning the concept of IC, applying theories in practical circumstances.
The first issue of the journal was published in 2000. The founding editor-in-chief (EIC)
was Rory L. Chase and, from 2018, Merrill Warkentin has held this position. Since its
foundation, the journal published issues on a quarterly basis and has recently gone to
JIC
22,3
458
Received 26 February 2020
Revised 25 May 2020
Accepted 12 October 2020
Journal of Intellectual Capital
Vol. 22 No. 3, 2021
pp. 458-477
© Emerald Publishing Limited
1469-1930
DOI 10.1108/JIC-02-2020-0052
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/1469-1930.htm
bimonthly distribution with six issues per year. JIC is duly recognized and is notable, with a
current (2018) impact factor of 3.744 in the Journal Citation Reports (from Clarivate
Analytics), placing it in Quartile 1 of both the Business and Management categories in 2018;
it is ranked with classification 2 at CABS and is valued at 5.79 for its Elsevier (Scopus)
Cite Score.
In 2020, JIC celebrates its 20th anniversary and, in order to acknowledge this momentous
achievement, the purpose of this study is to conduct a comprehensive bibliometric and
content analysis of the JIC, from its foundation in 2000–2019.
This bibliometric analysis shows the development of the concept of IC and the evolution of
JIC. In the beginning, IC was merely considered an intangible asset for a company, but it has
since assumed more structured connotations, related to the sustainability phenomenon and
the value (or co-value) creation theme. Studies on IC started to appear in the academic field in
1994. These articles argued for the relevance of IC as an intangible asset for a company (see,
for example, Edvinsson, 2000;Petty and Guthrie, 2000). At that time, IC’s research focus was
closely linked to knowledge management research (Serenko and Bontis, 2009;Serenko et al.,
2009;Mouritsen et al., 2002) and analyzed from the perspective of innovation. For instance,
McElroy (2002) states that IC stems from a joint ability to develop new ideas. This has
induced the theme of “social innovation capital”, which was also analyzed by Bueno and
colleagues (2004). Hence, moving on from the consideration of IC as simply an intangible
asset, researchers have expanded this topic, introducing studies on innovation (Cuganesan,
2005;Tovstiga and Tulugorova, 2009;Inkinen, 2015;Duodu and Rowlinson, 2019), emerging
countries (Jardon and Martos, 2012;Daou et al., 2014), virtual environments (Zhou and Fink,
2003;Berraies, 2019) and higher education (Pedro et al., 2019;Tjahjadi et al., 2019). In order to
provide an overview of the JIC’s accomplishments and summarize the recent trends of IC, we
have conducted a bibliometric analysis (Di Stefano et al., 2010). This approach provides an
overview of published JIC studies during the period between 2000 and 2019 using the Scopus
database.
In following the bibliometric analytical approach, we are able to provide descriptive data
and a cross co-citation analysis in order to recognize and evaluate links with other academic
fields, encouraging future research (Culnan, 1986,1987;Tovstiga and Tulugorova, 2009;
Gonz
alez-Loureiro et al., 2015;Dabi
cet al., 2019;Kiessling et al., 2019;Marzi et al., 2020). As the
field has emerged, the close links between JIC’s sister journal –Journal of Knowledge
Management (JKM)–reduced, highlighting significant new trend liaisons, such as: 1. IC and
human capital; 2. IC and disclosure and 3. IC and intangible assets. We also, however,
consider IC’s connection to the concept of knowledge management, thus adding a fourth
trend: IC and knowledge management. This connection is also linked to the fact that JIC is
mostly cited in JKM as a result of shared themes and similar research focus areas, as IC is
often fostered, developed and nurtured through knowledge management processes that
enable innovative organizations to pursue new sources of firm value. With this in mind, this
article is structured as follows. Our introduction evaluates the literature on IC and the
following section provides justification for the bibliometric analysis. In the third section, JIC
accomplishment indicators are given. In the fourth section, the bibliometric methodology of
IC’s research, the main findings and suggestions for JIC’s future avenues of research are all
discussed in separate sections. The article ends by presenting its limitations, giving a
discussion overview, suggesting managerial and academic implications and providing
conclusions.
2. Bibliometric analysis
2.1 Justification of the methodology
The aim of this research is to provide a broad overview of the JIC from 2000 to 2019 in order to
trace the evolution of scientific activities –recognized by authors who have published in the
20 years of JIC
459
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