Introduction

Public procurement involves the acquisition of goods, works, and services for use by public bodies, as well as the provision of various services to their citizens. Consequently, it is a key function of governments worldwide and is no longer limited to being just a buying activity; instead, it is considered a tool for achieving socio-economic and environmental objectives. Due to this transformation, not only public buyers but also academics have vested interests in its functioning. 

Public procurement has been a growing field of research for an extended period, and 2023 was no exception. Below, we analyze the key trends in procurement research for 2023, gathered from the SCOPUS database records (accessed on January 2, 2024), to gain insights into procurement research.

The following discussion is based on outputs derived by inserting the keywords “public procurement” into the search field, specifically within the “Abstract Title, Abstract, Keywords” section.

2022 vs 2023

Compared to 2022 (N = 1124), public procurement-related publications in 2023 (N = 1044) witnessed a decline of approximately 7%. A detailed examination of these publications will provide deeper insights into the prevailing trends.

Publications in English

According to Scopus, 963 public procurement-related documents in English, including articles, conference papers, book chapters, reviews, etc., were published throughout the year 2023. The following pie chart shows the share of each kind: 

Source: Author’s derivation with data from Scopus

In addition to English, there were publications in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Russian, Chinese, German, etc. 

Focusing solely on journal articles (n = 667) published in English, the following interesting observations are noted:

Publications by Subject Area

Source: Scopus

The largest field of public procurement research in 2023 was the Social Sciences, contributing 303 articles; this represented one in four of all public procurement-related articles. Following closely was public procurement research in Business, Management, and Accounting with 178 documents. Medicine; Economics, Econometrics, and Finance; as well as Engineering, closely followed, with each holding approximately a 10% share. Additionally, there was a noticeable growth in subject areas such as Environmental Science; Energy; and Computer Science within procurement research articles.

Publications by Country

As depicted in the bar chart alongside, the United States leads in producing public procurement research articles (N = 111), followed by the United Kingdom with 82 articles. China occupied the 3rd position (N = 49), with several countries, including Australia, India, Spain, Italy, Sweden, and Germany, closely following suit.

Source: Scopus

Publications by Authors

Dimand, A.M. authored the highest number of procurement-related articles in 2023 (N = 6). While Abutabenjeh, S. published 4 articles; Alsamarraie, M.M., Bhagat, G., Changalima, I.A., Jha, K.N., Lu, Z., Turudić, M.,and Zhang, Y. all stayed in the 3rd position by contributing 3 articles each. Similarly, several other authors had more than one publication to their name.

Source: Scopus

Publications by Affiliation

Source: Scopus

It is essential to recognize key institutions contributing to public procurement research. In this context, Universidade de São Paulo, King’s College London, the University of Nottingham, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology all stood out as top contributors, each affiliating with seven publications.

Publications by Funding Sponsor

Source: Scopus

It is also important to acknowledge the funding sources that support public procurement research. Among them, the European Commission emerged as the largest funder of articles published in the public procurement domain in 2023 (N = 19). Additionally, 19 more articles were indirectly funded by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme, H2020 Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions, and Horizon 2020. The National Natural Science Foundation of China played a pivotal role in fostering public procurement research by funding 16 articles alongside various other public and private organizations supporting public procurement research.

Publications by SAPIENS Network ESRs

Within the SAPIENS network, our early-stage researchers (ESRs) made notable strides in 2023, contributing significantly to academia. They authored eight publications, encompassing journal articles and book chapters, thanks to the support from H2020 Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions.

Moreover, one of our ESRs (Laura Treviño-Lozano), working alongside her supervisor, spearheaded the editing of a book titled “Sustainable Public Procurement of Infrastructure and Human Rights.”

In addition to these publications, Fellippe Vilaça Loureiro Santos, another ESR from the SAPIENS Network, achieved distinction in collaboration with his supervisors, Rodrigo Lozano and Maria Barreiro-Gen. They secured victory in the category “Stimulating Innovation through Public Procurement” with their paper, “Developing a Harmonic Sustainable Public Procurement Framework,” published in 2022. This accomplishment was part of the EU Publications Office’s TED Ambassador Competition, marking a noteworthy milestone for the SAPIENS network.

The table below showcases the contributions of SAPIENS Network ESRs in 2023 towards public procurement research:

Note: 

All the statistics are imported (on January 2, 2024) and analysed from : Scopus