Artificial Intelligence in Public Administration: A Comprehensive Bibliometric Review

Current international academic literature on public administration unequivocally highlights the key role of artificial intelligence, producing a full body of work that seamlessly integrates technology, law, ethics, and social sciences through an interdisciplinary framework. Although many academic gaps and research opportunities remain on the subject. Mapping the field's intellectual structure using 344 peer-reviewed articles from the Web of Science (1992, 2025), this study presents a bibliometric analysis of artificial intelligence (AI) research in public administration. Analyzed through the Bibliometrix package, the findings reveal rapid growth since 2019. The peak output is in 2024. Although the United States and China dominate total publication volume, Germany and Japan achieve higher average citations per article. Although elite western institutions, such as Harvard and Oxford, account for the most productive research, they are not without competition. Since key thematic clusters include artificial intelligence, governance, accountability, and digital transformation, they provide a full framework for analysis. A multi-theoretical framework drawing on National Innovation Systems and Center-periphery Theory, among others, is applied by the study to contextualize geographic and institutional disparities. Turkey contributes 12 articles, indicating emerging engagement. Although the analysis highlights the field's geographic concentration, interdisciplinary nature. Swift expansion, it offers a foundational map for scholars, policymakers, and practitioners dealing with AI's integration into public administration.