A Bibliometric Review of the Review of Financial Studies (1988–2023)

Abstract

The Review of Financial Studies (RFS) is one of the most prestigious journals in the field of finance, known for publishing theoretically rigorous and empirically robust research. Despite its prominence, systematic bibliometric evaluations of RFS remain limited. This study conducts a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of RFS publications from 1988 to 2023 using data retrieved from the Scopus database. A total of 2,361 articles and review papers are analyzed using citation analysis, co-authorship networks, bibliographic coupling, and keyword co-occurrence techniques. Visualization tools such as bibliometrix (R), VOSviewer, and Gephi are employed to map the intellectual and social structure of the journal. The findings reveal sustained growth in publications and citations, a strong dominance of U.S.-based institutions, and evolving thematic clusters centered on asset pricing, corporate finance, liquidity, and uncertainty. The study highlights RFS’s critical role in shaping global finance research and offers insights for scholars, editors, and policymakers.