Digital transformation in manufacturing SMEs: a bibliometric analysis using VOSviewer

Abstract

The present paper aims to identify the main trends and gaps in the digitalization of manufacturing SMEs. T he most significant literature on this emergent theme was gathered through a criterion search, resulting in discovering 4060 related documents. To narrow this considerable number of documents, a bibliometric analysis was performed. A database was exported from Clarivates’ Web of Science for clusters analysis in VOSviewer’s software. Afterward, it was possible to identify the top authors and documents. Four trends were identified: one Asian, headed by China; another Anglo-Saxon, led by the USA; and two European trends, run by Italy and Germany. Furthermore, were identified two research gaps: (1) The development of pro-environmental technology and (2) digital readiness models for manufacturing SMEs.