Key Directions in the Development of Digital Finance Theory: Cluster Analysis

The field of digital finance has experienced rapid growth in recent years, reflecting the increasing role of financial technology in transforming traditional financial systems. Despite the growing number of publications, however, a systematic analysis of the structural evolution of theoretical approaches in this area remains underdeveloped. The aim of this study is to identify key areas for scientific publications in digital finance through bibliometric and thematic analyses. To achieve this, a bibliometric analysis was conducted using data from Web of Science and Scopus covering publications over the past twenty years. The research method includes visualizing a network of commonly occurring terms and research clusters using VOSviewer and Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) for thematic modeling to uncover hidden scientific areas. The results of the analysis revealed four dominant research clusters: financial constraints and business growth, technological innovations in financial services, economic transformation and development, and environmental sustainability. Despite significant attention to financial inclusion and the implementation of fintech solutions, there are gaps in interdisciplinary collaboration. The analysis of co-authorship demonstrated the fragmented nature of scientific collaboration, indicating insufficient interaction between different disciplines. The findings emphasize the need for further research to integrate artificial intelligence and machine learning into financial technologies and assess the role of digital finance in enhancing economic sustainability.