MAPPING FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY AND ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY RESEARCH IN EMERGING ECONOMIES

Abstract

This study aims to map and analyze the development of research on financial technology and economic sustainability in emerging economies using a bibliometric analysis approach. Bibliographic data were collected from the Scopus database covering publications from 2018 to 2025. A total of 101 documents were analyzed using Microsoft Excel, VOS viewer, and Harzing’s Publish or Perish to identify publication trends, dominant research themes, country contributions, and citation structures. The findings indicate that research on fintech and economic sustainability has experienced significant growth, particularly after 2023, reflecting increasing academic interest in digital financial transformation and sustainable development. The keyword co-occurrence analysis reveals that the dominant research themes include fintech, sustainability, financial inclusion, green finance, environmental sustainability, and digital innovation. Country analysis shows that China and India are the leading contributors to this research area, while citation analysis demonstrates that sustainability-oriented fintech studies, particularly those related to green finance and ESG practices, have become the most influential topics in recent literature. This study contributes to the existing literature by providing a comprehensive bibliometric mapping of fintech and sustainability research in emerging economies and offers useful insights for researchers, policymakers, and financial practitioners regarding future research directions and sustainable digital financial development.