Service networks for sustainable business: A dynamic evolution analysis over half a century

Scientific research on service networks for sustainable business (SN-SB) and its impact on business and economics has been growing in recent years. The first document was published in 1968, and the SN-SB research has lasted over half a century. This paper offers a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of the academic literature published between 1968 and 2019 with regards to the SN-SB research in 2,366 publications from Web of Science. By applying different bibliometric analyses, such as performance analysis, cooperation analysis, co-occurrence analysis, burst detection analysis, and timeline view analysis, we have presented the fundamental characteristics of these publications, and identified the most influential countries/regions, institutions, and authors, as well as the evolution of the keywords these years. More discussions including popular issues in current study, challenges and avenues for future research, implications, and limitations are conducted to address the existing gaps in knowledge. This paper helps in understanding the evolution of the SN-SB research from the perspective of the bibliometric and inspires researchers to think from multiple aspects in this field.