A bibliometric and meta-analysis of studies on public–private partnership in China

China is one of the countries with the highest public-private partnership (PPP) experience. Although numerous studies on PPP in China have been published in different international journals in the past decades, few relevant reviews have been found. In this research, a bibliometric analysis of 139 peer-reviewed articles on PPP in China is performed to reveal the research evolution and trend. Besides, a meta-analysis of 111 empirical articles among the total 139 articles is conducted using multinomial logistic regression to examine how data characteristics and analytical features have been utilized in this area. The major findings suggest that, first, many studies are published in the subject areas of Business, Management and Accounting, and Engineering, and most topics are discussed from the micro-level perspective. Second, the issues in the procurement phase lack enough attention. Third, for studies with different research themes, how data characteristics and analytical features have been utilized significantly differ. In general, how PPP studies are approached in China contrasts with the global PPP research. Future research directions are proposed. The research contributes to the global PPP body of knowledge and methodology by providing the first quantitative review of studies on PPP in China and by combining the research methods.