THE EVOLUTION OF PROCESS INNOVATION RESEARCH: A BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF A MATURE AND EXPANDING FIELD

Process innovation has been seen as a key determinant for organizational performance, contributing to productivity, efficiency, flexibility, and sustained competitive advantage. Despite its strategic relevance, research on process innovation remains conceptually dispersed and fragmented across multiple research areas, such as innovation studies, operations management, sustainability, or digital transformation. To understand how researchers addressed this topic, the level of maturity of the field, gaps and future trends, we conducted a bibliometric analysis of process innovation research using 1,093 peer reviewed articles published between 1977 and 2026 and indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection. Employing performance analysis and science mapping techniques, the study identifies publication trends, influential authors and journals, collaboration patterns, and the field’s intellectual, conceptual, and social structures. The findings reveal a mature but still expanding research domain characterized by strong performance orientation and increasing attention to more recent trends such as sustainability, green innovation, and digitalization themes. By systematically mapping nearly five decades of research, this study provides an objective overview of the evolution of process innovation research. Although the domain approaches maturity, gaps and new trends especially related to artificial intelligence signal new opportunities for expansion.