Countries Collaboration and Research Themes in EC Research

Abstract

This study identified 19,831 publications on electronic commerce (EC) research during 1996-2012, based on the all subject categories of SCIE and SSCI. Using a bibliometric analysis, this study analyzed countries/territories productivity and collaboration, author keywords and keywords plus. A few meaningful views of global trends of EC research were revealed. First, China, USA and UK were the top 3 most productive countries. The USA took the central position of collaboration network and USA-China, USA-Canada and USA-South Korea are the main international collaboration relationship. Second, internet, security and trust were the top 3 author keywords over the years. Third, the keywords plus of model have become more prevalent since 2006, indicating more attention is paid to the research methods of EC-related topics. Overall, the findings of this study reveal global trends and directions for EC researchers and practitioners