The Scientometric Evaluation of the Research on the Incomplete Contract from 1986 to 2016

This study presents a scientometric evaluation of 984 papers relating to incomplete contract indexed by SSCI over the period 1986–2016, and provides helpful insights into the main trends and characteristics of research on incomplete contract in many aspects. The results show that there has been well diffused with many countries (36 countries), many institutions (more than 600 institutions) in the publications of incomplete contract. Research related to incomplete contract has been published by 310 journals indexed by SSCI, and publications in the top five economics journals account for a larger share (almost 10%). The peak period of the historical development is the last ten years. Regardless of the trend of the time series or the influence of the Nobel Prize, the number of publications relating to incomplete contract may continue to grow in the future. This study also provides valuable information about most publishing journals, most frequently cited journals, most frequently cited reference and the hottest new papers as well as the research directions/topics (e.g. asset ownership, international-trade, breach, procurement, contracting party, public-private partnerships, contract law, public service and developing countries etc.). In addition, this study also compares the change of research topics between the past thirty years and the last five years