Title: Shaping the future of entrepreneurship: a bibliometric analysis of business incubator

Authors: Bayya Rajesh Kumar; R. Sivarama Prasad; Abhay Kumar Srivastava

Addresses: Department of Commerce and Business Administration, Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh – 522510, India ' Department of Commerce and Business Administration, Acharya Nagarjuna University, Nagarjuna Nagar, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh – 522510, India ' Institute of Public Enterprise, Shamipet V & M, Medchal Dist., Hyderabad, Telangana – 500101, China

Abstract: This study analysed current and emerging research trends to map the knowledge structure of this field. The analysis focuses on the latest developments in bibliometric research. To achieve this, the paper presents a bibliometric review based on 331 publications about business incubators from the past decade (2014-2024) sourced from Scopus. To comprehensively analyse the literature, this study utilises two advanced bibliometric tools, Vos viewer and the bibliometrix package in the R program. The analysis encompasses co-citation analysis, co-authorship analysis, bibliographic coupling, co-occurrence of keywords, thematic mapping, trending topics analysis, and the evolution of these themes over time. Through these techniques, the paper uncovers key characteristics of the existing research in this field, highlighting the most influential publications, institutions, authors, countries, and journals. It also tracks the evolution of keywords over the years, shedding light on the shifting focus of business incubator studies.

Keywords: business incubator; BI; startups; entrepreneurship; innovation; bibliometric-analysis; bibliometrix-r-package; science-mapping; Vos viewer.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBBM.2025.153048

International Journal of Bibliometrics in Business and Management, 2025 Vol.4 No.4, pp.321 - 349

Received: 22 May 2025
Accepted: 08 Jul 2025
Published online: 20 Apr 2026 *

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