Introduction
Accounting in Europe (AinE) is one of the two journals of the European Accounting Association (EAA) that publishes high-quality articles offering new insights for research, practice, policy, and regulation. Our scientometric overview synthesizes the scientific and policy-related contributions of AinE, using bibliometric techniques. It reveals the journal’s production and influence, sorting articles into categories, exploring collaboration patterns, unveiling key themes, identifying emerging trends, and outlining future research areas.
Methodological Insights
This retrospective analysis, covering contributions from 2004 to 2023, analyzed 264 articles. Performance, co-authorship, bibliographic coupling, and co-word analyses are used to shed light on the AinE’s landscape.
Performance insights
It identifies five article types: Issues in European Accounting, Regular Articles, Special Issues, Comment Letters, and Opinion Pieces. Special Issues and Issues in European Accounting have the greatest impact. Non-financial reporting and financial instruments dominate the special issues in terms of impact. High Google Scholar indices for these two topics suggest that AinE’s audience extends beyond academia and that the journal content aligns well with its regulatory orientation.
Collaboration insights
Collaboration is more prevalent among EAA Financial Reporting Standards Committee members. Most highly collaborative institutions are ranked at the top of the US News & World Report Best Global Universities ranking. The UK leads in collaborations, with the UK and France forming the most powerful couple. AinE’s country network highlights its strong European focus and exhibits global research collaborations focused on the European regulatory agenda.
Major themes
Eleven thematic clusters emerge from the bibliometric analysis, discussing their main themes and evolution: (1) disclosure requirements, (2) transition to IFRS, (3) conceptual framework, (4) non-financial reporting, (5) regulatory bodies, (6) audit quality, (7) endorsement of IFRS, (8) accounting change, (9) IFRS for SMEs, (10) tax reporting, and (11) accounting for carbon emissions.
Emerging trends and future directions
Research predominantly focuses on sustainability reporting, with attention also given to IFRS 9, fair value hierarchy under IFRS 13, goodwill under IFRS 3, factors influencing audit quality, non-financial reporting, non-profit organizations, and IFRS 16. Sustainability reporting and non-profit organizations are further discussed, articulating future research directions.
Conclusion
In its 20 years, AinE has evolved into a mature journal, with a significant collaboration network and distinct aims, making substantial contributions to accounting and auditing regulatory debates. This study offers a comprehensive overview of AinE’s evolving landscape, with implications for editorial board, academics, practitioners, and regulators. By highlighting research trends and formulating future avenues, this scientometric overview serves as a catalyst for advancing scholarly exchange in the field.
Article available here:
Nerantzidis, M., & Vatis, S. E. (2024). Twenty Years of Accounting in Europe: A Bibliometric Analysis. Accounting in Europe, 1–27, DOI:10.1080/17449480.2024.2360934
