Title: Assessing women's empowerment through self-help groups: a scientometric and altmetric perspective

Authors: Jatin Kumar Jaiswal; Shivani Singh; Pooja Kumari

Addresses: Department of Commerce and Business Studies, Central University of South Bihar, India ' Department of Political Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India ' Department of Commerce and Business Studies, Central University of South Bihar, India

Abstract: This study aims to examine how research on women's empowerment through self-help groups (SHGs) has emerged over time, identifying new trends, and assessing the association between citation counts, altmetric attention scores (AAS), and Mendeley readership. To achieve this, the study has conducted a detailed analysis of 765 English-language documents published from 1950 to August 2024, using data from the Dimensions database. The co-citation analysis and bibliographic coupling were performed in accordance with the PRISMA 2020 framework. We used Gephi software for scientometric analysis and employed SPSS and Excel for altmetric analysis. The findings reveal a positive correlation between citations, AAS, and Mendeley readership, with 'World Development' being the most productive source. Moreover, we identified seven key themes, highlighting how SHGs empower women through economic, social, political, and entrepreneurial growth, while also addressing issues related to financial inclusion, health, and sustainability.

Keywords: women's empowerment; self-help group; SHG; scientometric analysis; altmetric analysis; grand challenges; sustainable development goals; Gephi; SPSS; PRISMA framework; altmetric attention scores; AAS.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2026.155699

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2026 Vol.59 No.1, pp.20 - 45

Received: 21 Sep 2024
Accepted: 21 Apr 2025
Published online: 11 Aug 2026 *

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