Mapping the evolution and intellectual structure of innovation marketing research: a comprehensive bibliometric analysis (1972-2025)

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Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
Innovation marketing has emerged as a critical research domain due to rapid digital transformation, evolving consumer behaviors, and increasing sustainability demands that fundamentally reshape modern business strategies. However, the intellectual structure and thematic evolution of this interdisciplinary field remain fragmented, with terminological ambiguities and isolated knowledge silos hindering theoretical development and practical advancement. This study systematically maps the intellectual structure and thematic evolution of innovation marketing research through comprehensive bibliometric analysis spanning 1972-2025. Data were retrieved from the Scopus database, yielding 10,453 scholarly documents after filtering duplicates and irrelevant materials, analyzed using the “Bibliometrix” package in R Studio with productivity metrics, citation analysis, co-word analysis, and cluster analysis techniques. The results reveal exponential growth with an annual growth rate of 11.04, particularly accelerating after 2000, with four distinct research clusters emerging: digital transformation technologies (23.4%), sustainable marketing innovations (19.8%), consumer-centric methodologies (21.2%), and strategic innovation management (18.6%). The United States leads publication volume with 1,048 documents (17.26%), followed by China with 681 documents (11.22%), while Belgium demonstrates highest citation impact with 66.15 citations per article. Notably, 67% of highly-cited articles appear in non-marketing journals, confirming interdisciplinary influence, with the most cited work by Pushpakom et al. (2018) receiving 3,064 citations. Innovation marketing has evolved from product-focused approaches toward integrated, technology-driven, and sustainability-oriented strategies, establishing itself as a distinct research domain with significant cross-disciplinary impact for marketing practitioners and policymakers.

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    • Figure 1. Annual scientific production
    • Figure 2. Annual growth ra/te (%) in marketing
    • Figure 3. 10 most productive authors
    • Figure 4. Vizualization of the author collaboration network
    • Figure 5. 10 most active countries in marketing
    • Figure 6. Countries’ collaboration network in innovation marketing research
    • Figure 7. 10 most active journals in the field of marketing
    • Figure 8. Journals with the highest impact factor in the field of marketing
    • Figure 9. The most used keywords in marketing
    • Figure 10. Keyword cloud of innovation marketing research
    • Figure 11. Co-occurrence network of keywords in innovation marketing research
    • Figure 12. Citation distribution in innovation marketing literature
    • Figure 13. Conceptual structure map of innovation marketing research
    • Figure 14. Cluster analysis of innovation marketing research
    • Figure 15. Factorial map of the most cited documents in innovation marketing research
    • Data curation
      Fozil Xolmurotov, Mavlyuda Gadoeva, Xikmat Ishmuratov, Anvar Matnazarov
    • Formal Analysis
      Fozil Xolmurotov, Dildor Eshmuratova, Xikmat Ishmuratov
    • Methodology
      Fozil Xolmurotov
    • Project administration
      Fozil Xolmurotov, Mavlyuda Gadoeva, Anvar Matnazarov
    • Software
      Fozil Xolmurotov
    • Supervision
      Fozil Xolmurotov, Anvar Matnazarov
    • Writing – original draft
      Fozil Xolmurotov, Mavlyuda Gadoeva, Darmon Uraeva, Xikmat Ishmuratov
    • Writing – review & editing
      Fozil Xolmurotov, Dildor Eshmuratova, Xolilla Xolmuratov , Anvar Matnazarov
    • Funding acquisition
      Mavlyuda Gadoeva, Darmon Uraeva, Xolilla Xolmuratov
    • Validation
      Mavlyuda Gadoeva, Darmon Uraeva, Xolilla Xolmuratov
    • Conceptualization
      Darmon Uraeva, Xolilla Xolmuratov
    • Investigation
      Darmon Uraeva, Dildor Eshmuratova, Xikmat Ishmuratov, Xolilla Xolmuratov
    • Resources
      Dildor Eshmuratova, Xolilla Xolmuratov
    • Visualization
      Dildor Eshmuratova, Xikmat Ishmuratov, Xolilla Xolmuratov , Anvar Matnazarov