Strategic management accounting research: a bibliometric analysis of trends, themes and future directions

Although previous narrative and systematic reviews have examined Strategic Management Accounting (SMA), bibliometric science mapping has not yet been used to quantitatively analyse its intellectual structure. This research addresses this gap by providing the first dedicated bibliometric analysis of SMA, utilising 212 Scopus-indexed publications from 1990 to 2026. Through keyword co-occurrence network analysis and thematic mapping, the study investigates the growth trajectory, intellectual foundations, and thematic landscape of SMA scholarship. The field demonstrates sustained moderate growth (CAGR 7.3%, moderating to 6.1% through 2025), with customer accounting, strategic costing, and balanced scorecard identified as the core themes. A significant and previously unquantified gap is revealed: SME-related keywords account for less than one percent of all keyword occurrences, and only nine articles (4.2%) explicitly address SMA in SME contexts. This positions SMEs as a peripheral research frontier, despite their considerable economic importance in developing economies. This study contributes the first data-driven intellectual map of SMA scholarship and a structured research agenda for advancing SMA in SME and developing-country contexts.