Assessing four decades of global research studies on stock market manipulations: a sceintometric analysis

Purpose - This study aims to diagnose the global key contributors in the stock market manipulation studies during the past four decades. Design/methodology/approach - The database search is based on the terms used in the existing body of knowledge. Using the bibliometric tools and techniques on the Scopus database, the study assessed and analysed the productivity of research studies, as well as the influence of the authors, publications, journals, affiliated institutions and countries. Findings - This paper finds the USA as the leading country investigating this area, almost capturing 40% of the research studies in finance, moreover, a huge number of co-authors. Financial crises in the late 1990s and 2008 is observed as one of the main reasons for this intriguing research. TheJournal of Financeis spotted as the most persuasive journal with the highest cite score and an unprecedented number of citations. The analysis of keywords engendered that most of the stock market manipulation studies are event-based studies. Seminally unique scientometric analysis revealed that the significance of stock market manipulation was mainly captured by event-based studies, insider trading and pump and dump schemes studies. However, much remained untapped to articulate the bridging scope of technology and media with stock market behaviour and manipulations. Research limitations/implications - The research only includes the Scopus database, however, incorporates 81% relevant study. Practical implications - This study reckons that technology-based manipulations are emerging themes in this research field which invites the applied research to have productive outcomes. Originality/value - The intriguing study incorporates a maximum number of the relevant literature and used a comprehensive technique for the selection of dataset in Scopus.