A Bibliometric Analysis of Educational Research Publications on Lean Manufacturing: Identifying Key Themes and Trends

Abstract Since there is so much empirical research in the field of lean manufacturing, to provide a comprehensive overview of the literature on this subject, a bibliometric analysis was required. Through science mapping and multi-dimensional bibliometric analysis, this study aims to identify common themes in the most-cited research on lean manufacturing. A bibliometric analysis was conducted using VOSviewer, including keyword occurrence, co-authorship network, and bibliometric coupling network analyses. From the 4,648 results in the SCOPUS database search, the 100 most-cited articles were analyzed. The analysis found four research clusters: “lean manufacturing,” “productivity,” “manufacture,” and “value stream mapping.” It was also found that most of the most-cited papers came from journals with a Q1 ranking. Based on these results, scholars work to learn as much as they can about the field. The results are important to researchers because they show how far the research on lean manufacturing has come. As far as the author knows, no other study has been done on bibliometric analysis of the topic. By making a scientific map of what is known about lean manufacturing, this study adds to what is already known.