Knowledge-based development research: a comprehensive literature review 2000–2010

The purpose of this paper is first, to adapt an existing methodological framework for conducting a comprehensive literature review on an empirical phenomenon based on a vast amount of papers published. Second, to use this framework to gain an understanding of the current state of the Knowledge-Based Development (KBD) research field; and third, based on the literature review, to develop a conceptual framework identifying areas of concern with regard to KBD. For this purpose, abstracts from more than 150 peer-reviewed journal publications from 2000 to 2010 have been analysed according to journal, authors and year of publication, and further categorized into research discipline, research topic and methods used. To the best knowledge of authors, there is no other literature review of the KBD field, based on such an analytical and comprehensive approach. The findings of the literature study, the structured methodological framework for comprehensive literature review and the conceptual framework identifying different areas of concern are believed to be useful for other researchers in their effort to obtain an overview of the evolution of the KBD research field.