Three decades of WTO dispute settlement: insights from bibliometric literature review and future research agenda
International Journal of Law and Management
ISSN: 1754-243X
Article publication date: 13 September 2024
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to conduct a comprehensive systematic literature review using bibliometric approach to investigate the academic structure of World Trade Organization Dispute Settlement research.
Design/methodology/approach
The study examines the bibliographic information for 1,858 articles from Scopus and the Australian Business Deans Council-indexed journals published between 1995 and 2024 using Dimensions.ai and Google Scholar search engines. Exploratory-cum-descriptive research design with bibliometric approach is used to answer the stated literature review research questions.
Findings
The data shows a gradual decline in WTO-Dispute Settlement System (WTO-DSS) research relative to the total international business area in the three decades. Developed countries appear as key contributors to the research, with the USA and the UK standing out as the most productive and influential research countries. The study shows a significant change in the focus of this research corpus from legalized to non-legalized approaches, with a greater emphasis on transparency and environmental sustainability. The research identifies global politics and international trade law as influential subjects in the discipline.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the study is a first of its kind where bibliometric approach has been used to study the evolution of WTO-DSS literature. The study adds to the understanding of WTO Dispute Settlement research patterns and recommends future research options.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The paper presents a portion of the doctoral research project examining “the impact of the Dispute Settlement System of World Trade Organization on trade performance: A comparative study of developed and developing countries.”
Funding: The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided to Iqra Yaseen through the Senior Research Fellowship program of the University Grants Commission of India.
Conflict of interest: The authors declare no financial or non-financial conflict of interest.
Compliance with ethical standards: Not Applicable.
Informed consent: Not Applicable.
Authors contribution: Iqra Yaseen conceived the presented idea, developed the theory, performed the bibliometric analysis and drafted the manuscript.
Prof. Mohammad Shafi Sofi verified the analytical methods and supervised the findings of this work. Both the authors discussed the results and contributed to the final manuscript.
Citation
Yaseen, I. and Shafi Sofi, M. (2024), "Three decades of WTO dispute settlement: insights from bibliometric literature review and future research agenda", International Journal of Law and Management, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLMA-07-2024-0248
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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