The Emergence of Neuroaccounting: A Bibliometric Analysis of Financial Decision-Making Research
Abstract
This paper aims to examine the intellectual landscape and thematic evolution of neuroaccounting, an emerging interdisciplinary field that integrates neuroscience, psychology, behavioral finance, and accounting to understand financial decision-making. Despite its conceptual relevance, neuroaccounting remains underrepresented in scholarly indexing and lacks a systematic bibliometric synthesis. Using a bibliometric analysis of 482 documents published between 1980 and 2025, this study investigates publication trends, citation metrics, document types, keyword patterns, and journal contributions. The research sample includes peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, conference papers, and other scholarly outputs indexed across major academic databases. Findings reveal a steady increase in academic interest, with notable growth in publications and citations from 2018 onward. Core themes such as cognitive biases, heuristics, behavioral finance, and investment decisions dominate the literature, even though “neuroaccounting” is not yet a mainstream keyword. High-impact contributions often originate from decision science and strategy journals, while behavioral finance journals serve as primary publication venues. Network and density visualizations highlight tightly connected thematic clusters centered on decision-making under uncertainty. The study’s implications suggest that neuroaccounting is conceptually robust but still fragmented, requiring further empirical research in real-world settings and broader geographic representation. Limitations include citation lag in recent publications and the evolving terminology surrounding the field. This paper contributes by positioning neuroaccounting as a unifying label that bridges established research domains, offering a foundation for future interdisciplinary collaboration and methodological innovation in accounting and financial behavior research.
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