The Science of Business Angels: Unveiling Its Intellectual Structure, Evolution and Emerging Trends

This study examines the intellectual structure of Business Angel research by identifying its main thematic clusters, intellectual turning points and citation burst papers. A co-citation analysis was conducted using data retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection, comprising 29,168 cited references. The analysis identifies 11 thematic clusters: Screening and Rejection Process, Networks and Professionalisation, Informal Venture Capital Market, Equity Crowdfunding, Business Angels Ecosystem, Investor Signalling, Hybrid Entrepreneurial Finance, Institutional Context and Social Capital, Investment Criteria and Investor Characteristics, Reputation and Entrepreneurial Support Structures and Regulatory Interventions and Incentive Effects. Furthermore, six intellectual turning points connecting otherwise differentiated areas of the field were identified. Citation bursts reveal a progression from broad foundations centred on the informal venture capital market and the Business Angel ecosystem towards more specialised research on investment evaluation and signalling, institutional and regulatory mechanisms, and hybrid entrepreneurial finance. The overlap between these trajectories indicates a cumulative rather than substitutive development of the field. By integrating cluster analysis, intellectual turning points and citation bursts, this study provides a combined structural and temporal reconstruction of Business Angel research, clarifying both its intellectual foundations and the way its research priorities have evolved over time.