A bibliometric analysis of international literature on collaboration in supply chain

Collaboration has been recognized as an important strategy for supply chain management success. However, previous studies suggest that this issue is little understood and explored, in terms of identifying and organizing the content already developed, as well as in providing reflections and alternatives for its appropriation in the organizational environment. This work sheds light on these issues and aims at systematically mapping the international scientific production on collaboration in supply chain. Bibliometric methods were used by means of structured mapping and systematic analysis of publications found on the Web of Science – Social Sciences Citation Index (WoS-SSCI) database up to 2014. As a result, 173 were retrieved, which were published in 68 journals and written by 380 authors associated with 226 institutions of 32 countries. The bibliometric analysis allowed us to identify the journals that stand out because of the high count of citations and number of articles, which could be used as reference for future studies in this area; among them is the Supply Chain Management an International Journal. From the systematic analysis of highly cited papers and recent papers, we observed a predominance of quantitative studies using surveys and some using structural equation modeling. Based on the paper analysis, we identified some gaps and opportunities for future research. It thus follows that collaboration within the supply chains context is a relevant matter with increasing academic interest, which needs to be further studied for theoretical development and practical implications. Keywords: collaboration, supply chain, bibliometric study.