Mapping the Relationship of Research and Development Expenditures and Economic Growth through Bibliometric Analysis: A Theoretical Perspective

The association between R&D expenditures and economic growth has long been investigated in the economics literature due to its explicit importance for economic and social development of an economy. This study aims to develop theoretical direction in this area of research through extended approach in bibliometric analysis of existing scientific knowledge and to identify the future prospects for authors. The analysis was carried out by using a typology of information dissemination, the geographical distribution of documents, social networking of authors, and the thematic area of publications identifying the trends and contributions on the basis of available data. The findings of productivity analysis, citation burst, keywords, and contents analysis using R studio and VOSviewer indicated that the connection between R&D expenditures and economic growth is strong and getting stronger among developed economies by counting contemporary factors like innovation and modernization. The results highlighted the need of literature considering R&D and growth models for solving novel issues of developing parts of the world.