A Life Cycle Perspective on Research: Strategies for Sustained Relevance With Microfinance as a Case Study

Purpose This paper explores how life cycle theory can be applied to extend the relevance and longevity of academic research topics. Study design We use microfinance as an illustrative case. We employ a bibliometric method of citation analysis and gather publication data from Scopus and Google Scholar from 1995 to the present. Findings We find that microfinance research has entered a maturity phase. The volume of publications is no longer growing. We also find that strategies for revitalization and sustained scholarly engagement can prolong publication records, such as relabelling and including microfinance into broader categories. Contributions We show that the life cycle model can be applied to a research agenda. Implications The scholar should take a careful look at where in the life cycle of the research agenda the current research interest is located. A key to successful publishing is the requirement of novelty