TY - JOUR AB - Purpose This systematic literature review analyzes and identifies research areas where researchers have already studied the role of intellectual capital (IC) in the healthcare sector. This review also analyzes how they carried out their work to understand future research directions.Design/methodology/approach The analysis is conducted through a systematic literature review. Therefore, following systematic literature review protocol, it was possible to select 225 papers. An analysis of the content was done to identify the main topics debated and understand what components of IC are the most studied by scholars.Findings The authors highlight how the components of IC (human capital, structural capital and relational capital) in the healthcare sector have not been discussed with the same frequency and intensity by researchers. The research shows that there are already widely discussed areas, such as structural capital, while other components of IC have remained on the shadow, such as relational capital. Human capital is the most undiscussed component.Research limitations/implications The manual analysis of the articles can be considered a limitation of this work.Originality/value This systematic literature review makes several useful contributions. First, it enables others to replicate scientific research, thanks to its clear and transparent process. Second, it identifies the main areas of research and the main research methods. It enables researchers to identify which issues their work should address and suggests possible areas for future research. VL - 21 IS - 3 SN - 1469-1930 DO - 10.1108/JIC-10-2019-0237 UR - https://doi.org/10.1108/JIC-10-2019-0237 AU - Paoloni Niccolò AU - Mattei Giorgia AU - Dello Strologo Alberto AU - Celli Massimiliano PY - 2020 Y1 - 2020/01/01 TI - The present and future of intellectual capital in the healthcare sector: A systematic literature review T2 - Journal of Intellectual Capital PB - Emerald Publishing Limited SP - 357 EP - 379 Y2 - 2024/04/18 ER -