Title: Seaport competitiveness research: the past, present and future

Authors: Ziaul Haque Munim; Naima Saeed

Addresses: Department of Management, School of Business and Law, University of Agder, Universitetsveien 19, 4630 Kristiansand, Norway ' Department of Working Life and Innovation, School of Business and Law, University of Agder, Jon Lilletuns vei 3, 4879 Grimstad, Norway

Abstract: This study presents a review of articles with a focus on seaport competitiveness from the maritime literature. We investigated how port competitiveness research has evolved during the last two decades using bibliometric citation analysis tools and techniques. Bibliography data, collected from the ISI Web of Science database, consisted of 267 research papers by 465 authors in 117 journals. Based on citation analysis, we identified the key universities, journals and articles and their impact on port competitiveness research. Also, seven key research streams with few sub-streams were revealed as a result of a mixed co-citation and in-depth content analysis of the most cited articles. A bibliometric co-citation mapping technique was used to show how the key articles are built on each other. Key research papers and their concepts, methods and findings are also discussed. Finally, we present some strategic research challenges and future research agendas.

Keywords: literature review; bibliometric analysis; co-citation analysis; port competitiveness; port management; port competition.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSTL.2019.103877

International Journal of Shipping and Transport Logistics, 2019 Vol.11 No.6, pp.533 - 557

Received: 01 Mar 2018
Accepted: 18 Sep 2018
Published online: 02 Dec 2019 *