Twenty-five years of New England Journal of Entrepreneurship: a bibliometric review

Abstract

Purpose: In 2023, the New England Journal of Entrepreneurship (NEJE) reached its 25th anniversary. To commemorate this major milestone as well as entrepreneurship’s growth as an academic field, the study employs bibliometric methods to provide key trends and research suggestions for entrepreneurship scholars using all original research published in the journal. Design/methodology/approach: The authors perform two predominant bibliometric techniques, performance analysis and science mapping, using all 251 articles published by NEJE from 1998 to 2022. Findings: The authors find that the impact of entrepreneurship research published at NEJE is growing consistently and that the challenge of the future will be to maintain this growth in tandem with greater publication productivity. The authors also find that although most contributions come from authors affiliated with institutions in the USA, there is a global representation from authors who have published in NEJE. Further, the authors found that the major entrepreneurship research themes of articles published in NEJE revolve around general entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial behavior, gender, technology, entrepreneurship education, innovation and value creation and sustainability. Research limitations/implications: The analysis is restricted to articles published in NEJE and therefore may not be representative of the entrepreneurship field. However, it can serve as a useful resource, particularly for prospective NEJE authors, to gain empirical insights about entrepreneurship research trends and rising topics of interest. Originality/value: The authors’ work represents the first effort to synthesize research published in NEJE through bibliometric techniques and offers insights about important trends and themes in this rising outlet of the entrepreneurship field.