Who Likes SIBs? A Bibliometric Analysis of Academic Literature (Time Span 1990–2018)

Scientific research into Social Impact Bonds (henceforth, SIBs) has consistently grown over the last 15 years, from an average publication of 10 papers per year (henceforth, PPY) between 2007–2011, to 25 PPY during 2012–2014 and to more than 50 PPY from 2015 (Web of Science, previously known as ISI Web of Knowledge). This chapter aims to explore this development of academic research by using a bibliometric analysis. The findings are organised into two forms of assessment: public sector reform (henceforth, PSR) versus financial sector reform (henceforth, FSR); and optimistic versus pessimistic responses. By combining the two forms, we obtain a matrix in which existing literature can be clustered into four quadrants along a longitudinal study for the period 1990–2018.