The bibliometric analysis of Islamic banking and finance

Purpose Islamic banking and finance (IBF) have been the subject of central scientific interest, as demonstrated by the significant increase in publications on the subject in recent years. In the present paper, the use of the bibliometric analytical technique is proposed to examine the research on IBF. The purpose of this study is to carry out a bibliometric analysis of all the publications on Scopus relative to IBF. Design/methodology/approach The screening methodology conducted in May 2020, in the foreground, for precise research and as complete as possible, sought all references to “Islamic finance” or “Islamic bank” in “all fields” of Scopus and 7,662 scientific contributions were found. Therefore, the results include a time frame for publications between 1980 and 2020. Findings This study shows that the literature on Islamic finance focusses on banking, rates, comparisons with traditional banks and portfolios, analysis of governance and control structures. In the journals taken into consideration in this paper from which the sample of selected articles comes, it can be deduced that the ethicality of the finance and the bank is placed in second place. Originality/value Through analysis, citation rates are proposed, and the impact factors of journals are quantitative and objective indicators directly linked to published science. The implications of this paper are to identify the future trend of research in the field of IBF.