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There is a growing trend of open innovation (OI) in small and middle enterprises (SMEs) these days, yet the implementation of OI in SMEs is a challenge because of their financial and resource constraints. This study aims to identify and analyze the past trends, barriers and outcomes and major factors influencing the implementation of OI in SMEs.

This review is based on 40 published articles from the Scopus database. It selects highly cited papers published from 2010 to 2019. The PRISMA statement template is used to explain the overall process of selection and rejections of the relevant articles.

The study contributes in two ways. First, through a comprehensive literature review, the authors highlight the overall development of the concept of OI in the literature over the past 10 years and highlight the findings of the significant studies. Second, the authors provide detailed representations of the OI literature by calculating yearly publications and identifying the SMEs which mostly implement OI practices, journals that publish a relevant article, OI-related publications in different disciplines and geographical locations in which most of the OI studies have been conducted. The study also reveals the most cited articles, journals and authors.

The authors conclude this paper with the argument that although much research has been done in the OI field, still there is a need to establish tools, models and methods that could facilitate SMEs in OI, especially for developing economies.