Mapping highly cited research in FT50 journals: a bibliometric and science-mapping analysis

Purpose The Financial Times 50 (FT50) journal list is a prestigious and influential ranking, widely regarded as a benchmark of excellence in business and economics research. The purpose of the present study was to identify trends and examine the 50 most-cited bibliometric analyses to gain insights into influential publications in management and economics. Design/methodology/approach The Scopus database was used to comprehensively identify the most-cited documents in FT50 journals without year or language restriction. The 50 most-cited publications were retrieved from each of the 50 journals included in the 2016 FT50 list, yielding a corpus of 2,500 publications, which were downloaded in CSV format. Documents were evaluated for various characteristics, including year of publication, document type, names of authors, topic, open access and affiliations. Findings The results found that the MIS Quarterly: Management Information Systems has received the highest citations. Trailblazing researchers such as Shleifer A., Mackenzie S.B. and Podsakoff PM exhibit high citation strength and centrality in co-authorship networks. The study also reveals that University of California was the most productive institution, majority of the institutions were from the USA. Major topics of interest in the top 50 most-cited papers were corporate governance, supply chain management, earnings management and entrepreneurship. Originality/value The study covers to understanding the impact of researchers of FT50 authors and offers insights for academics, organizations and policymakers aiming into the evolution of high-impact business research.